You would never know
by KathBell
Summary: Colby is finally making progress in mending is friendship with David, when two people from his past appear, and not long after, people start to go missing. People Colby cares very deeply about.  Sequel to 'Reasoning'.  Slight AU. David/OC. Past!Colby/OC.
1. Prolouge

**A/N: New story time! This is the sequel to 'Reasoning' that I promised :)  
Disclaimer: Only own Taylor and Charlotte, don't own numb3rs!**

"_Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever."_

–

Taylor chewed on her lip nervously as she entered the FBI bullpen in search of Special Agent Don Eppes. She, surprisingly, had decided to not research that team.

It had worked out _so well_ last time after all, hadn't it? She thought sarcastically. She hadn't had the best luck with teams in the last few years. Her last partner turned out to be a serial killer, so she sincerely hoped for better luck this time.

"Taylor?" His voice sounded questioning and as she turned around, Taylor could not hide the shock and surprise on her face.

"Granger? You work here?" She smiled brightly, hugging him. Once she pulled away, he answered.

"Yeah... What are you doing here?" He shook his head and smirked. "What did you do this time?"

She sent him a mock-offended look. "It hurts me that you think so little of me."

"I'm only using experience with you against you."

She rolled her eyes. "I've just gotten a job here, on the Violet Crimes unit. Anyway, shouldn't I be asking you that? Last I heard you were doing something with the DOJ, or was it CIA, whatever crap that was." She noticed that his eyes had gone straight to the ground and she had to bite her lip again. Something went wrong there, and she would do anything short of killing Colby (that she could never do) to find out. "You know what, doesn't matter, just as long as you aren't my boss. Anything sounds more inviting than that." He laughed at that, so did she but she couldn't shake of the worry she had felt when Colby's eyes had dropped to the floor.

–

Don Eppes looked at the young agent – well, not young, she was just a few years younger than Colby – that was talking to Colby. He had been surprised when she had hugged him, and judging by the look on her face, the look of worry that he and David had held so many times after the whole Chinese incident a few weeks ago, she must think something was wrong. Like he did. Deciding that it was time to talk to the new agent, he walked over to them. "Agent Garcia?" He asked. The agent looked up and smiled.

"That's me, you must be Agent Eppes?" Taylor smiled.

"Yep. You're a profiler right?" Colby raised his eyebrows at the new information.

"Yes."

"Good, you ready to start straight away?" She nodded. "Colby, this is-"

"Taylor Garcia, I know." Don had guessed that; but he wanted to know why. "We were in the same unit." Which usually meant trouble, Don nodded anyway, he had a feeling that this was going to be a long week..

**A/N: I know it's short but the rest of the story is much longer :) **


	2. Nightmares

**A/N: Thanks for reviewing! :D Charlotte is based of my cousin in personality/accent (Yep, I'm an English girl, but a scouser, not a London-er), and my best friend in looks. Those two people are the ones that inspired me to start this story :)  
Song: Leave out all the rest, Linkin Park.  
Disclaimer: Own Charlotte and Taylor, don't own Numb3rs!**

_"We are weighed down, every moment, by the conception and the sensation of time. And there are but two means of escaping and forgetting this nightmare: pleasure and work. Pleasure consumes us. Work strengthens us. Let us choose."_

_I dreamed I was missing_  
_ You were so scared_  
_ But no one would listen_  
_ Cause no one else cared_

Colby couldn't breathe. It was the first thing that he registered. Someone was shaking him furiously; he could hear her pleading with him, he realised after a while, but his oxygen deprived brain couldn't work out who it was. "Colby! Wake up, Colby, just a nightmare." It was a woman, he recognised her voice. "Come on, wake up." He opened his eyes, finally able to breathe again. He found himself gasping for air, trying to work out where he was. Taylor was here, why was she here again? This must be another hallucination, he decided, he was still on that freighter (probably in the middle of nowhere by now, out of American waters for sure). Alone, with his team thinking he was a traitor, no one would ever know he was dead. "Colby, you need anything, water?" He nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Confusion took over him when he realised that he wasn't bound to a chair, but in his apartment.

Oh, yeah. They found me. He shook his head at himself - he should have remembered that. "Tay, what're you?" She pushed the glass of water into his hands, sending him a look that said 'shut up and drink'. There was a good reason behind that too - he sounded horrible, and probably looked it too.

"We'll talk in a minute okay?" And to that he shook his head. No way. She had been through enough - the scars on her hands were only there because of him and she did not need him spilling his guts out to her.

No one did. "I'm fine, Taylor, just.." She nodded, her understanding yet worried gaze washing over him. If that was what he called fine then she would be terrified to find out what he called bad.

"Yeah."

_After my dreaming_  
_ I woke with this fear_  
_ What am I leaving_  
_ When I'm done here_

_So if you're asking me I want you to know,  
_

Don had never thought that he would want the annoying, seemingly never ending banter between Colby and David back. Actually, screw that, he wanted Colby back. The Chinese incident had been hard on them all, and Don couldn't even begin to imagine what it would have been like for Colby. The mandatory psych evaluation had shown some red flags, but nothing serious enough to warrant them keeping him off the team, or in the office – plus Don thought that doing that would do more harm than good. He glanced at his two co-workers and frowned, not at the lack of banter, or even the coldness, but the look on Colby's face as another unknown agent approached them. Resisting the urge to shake his head, he walked over to Colby and David.

"You must be Agent Eppes?" Don studied the female agent carefully, her face showed no emotion – nearly identical to Colby, Don mused. She had short blonde hair that reached her shoulders, and sea-green shaded eyes. She probably came from England, upper-class, northern London possibly, as she had a very distinguished accent. She was smiling, occasionally glancing at Colby – and looking intently at David, a thought that was slightly amusing and worrying. Don nodded after a few seconds, the woman's stare now on him. It was intimidating, not that he would ever admit it.

"You?"

"Agent Greene.." She introduced herself.

"Charlotte? What are you doing here?" Colby seemed to come to his senses – finally. Don looked at him, noting the first name usage for the future. David looked suspicious – he was probably ready to say ask this Charlotte person if she had been a Chinese spy – considering that Colby looked shocked for her to be here.

"3 of our guys were inside – we don't know if they were involved or not – the building before it went boom." She answered bluntly. "And one of yours." The three men frowned. Colby glanced around quickly, seeing that Megan was talking to a witness and Taylor was –

Oh. That can't be good.

"Where's Taylor Charlotte?" Colby asked, dread slowly creeping into his voice. Taylor had joined the team the previous week, but she had, unlike him, joined the FBI only a few weeks after being discharged. He knew, from personal experience, that her mind would not be 100% here yet, and if she had been involved in this explosion... Well, explosions brought back memories for him, and would probably do the same for her.

"She got hit in the head by some debris, don't worry, she was okay enough to complain about going to the hospital, obviously a bit shaken up. Anyway, that's how we got you guys in it, I found her fighting with the paramedics." Colby smirked at that. "Don't smirk Colby, you're just as bad." David sniggered at this, causing a small smile to appear on Colby's face, but it soon disappeared. "Can you send someone to see her, well, make sure she listens to the doctors anyway, I'd go myself but I'm the only agent of this case, and as much as I trust you, my boss doesn't." She directed the last part towards Colby. It was obvious they had a past, Don just hoped it wouldn't mess with the investigation.

Yeah right. "David, go make sure she stays at the hospital." David nodded at Don and left, leaving the three of them alone. "Colby, how do you two know each other?" Charlotte grinned, exchanging a glance with Colby.

"Army." Don nodded, looking at them both suspiciously "We knew each other for a while before Charlotte got deployed to England, and that's when Taylor came, then I left and Taylor and Charlotte ended up together." Colby explained further, a hint of uncertainty in his voice. Charlotte's eyebrows furrowed slightly in confusion; the Colby she knew had never been uncertain about anything. _City life is rubbing off on him_, she decided, although she was unable to shake the new feeling that had appeared in her gut. Something bad was going to happen and she knew it. Bad things seemed to be attracted to them.

"Anyway, you two wanna focus on the case. Don't know about you Eppes, but us lot, not a fan of losing one of our own." Don decided that he did not like this woman at all. Colby noticed the now-murderous look in his bosses eyes and started to consider stepping in between them, because Charlotte carried multiple knives and would have Don dead within minutes.

That girl was way to paranoid for his health. Don just glared at the woman. "You have any suspects?" This was the problem with his life – people from his old life very rarely got along with people in his new life. Taylor was the only exception – and that was only because she was on the team. He doubted that Don would be a fan of Charlotte by the time this case was over.

"No. Colby, seriously? Half an hour, I know I'm fast but I'm not superhuman." She rolled her eyes at him. He held his hands up defensively, but in a joking manner. "We haven't had any cases with this M.O, most of ours are suicides or accidental deaths, very rare for something of, well, this magnitude to come along; and for it to take our agents. Very rare, thank God." Colby nodded.

"You knew these three Charl'?" Nicknames, Don thought, they must really be close. Charlotte nodded, smiling a little bit.

"Kind of, had the odd tea with them, dinner, the normal sort of stuff. Anyway, as one of your guys – technically one of my ex-girls/guys – ended up getting injured, we're doing a joint case. Your director will be getting a call from mine in a while if you really need it confirming, but you have Colby's word-" Not that it means much any more. "And Taylor's that this is all very real, and that I am not some sort of psychopath."

"I never said you weren't a psychopath." Colby muttered under his breath, nearly earning a laugh from Don and a glare from Charlotte.

"Colby, you remember the doors? I can make you into one of them." Don now had to bite his lip to stop himself from bursting out laughing as all of the colour drained from Colby's face. Oh, the next few days would be interesting at the least.

_When my time comes_  
_ Forget the wrong that I've done_  
_ Help me leave behind some_  
_ Reasons to be missed_

"David, I know I've only known you a week but I swear to God if they make me stay in here for another minute I will kill you then kill them. I can do that. So please, let me out of here." Taylor pleaded, she hated hospitals. Everytime she was here she couldn't help but think of the life-alerting events that happened in them.

"Taylor. You're staying here until the doctors say you can go." David sighed.

"Then you have to tell me whatever shits going on between you and Colby." David was hesitating, she noticed, and guessed why. "I won't profile you, I'm not Megan." Yes, it might have been a lie. Years of training and experience forced her to profile everyone she had met. So far there had been only two people she hadn't been able to profile – Colby and Charlotte. Maybe it was something to do with the letter C?

"It's nothing." You're a bad liar Sinclair.

_Don't be afraid  
I've taken my beating  
I__'ve shed what I made _

After being checked out by many doctors, Taylor was finally released and she headed straight back to the office (ignoring David's insistent orders that she should rest).

"David, you're staring at the blonde. Stop staring, that woman will kill you if she catches you staring, that's if Colby doesn't first; and trust me, Colby will kill you if he catches you staring at her." David snapped out of it, glaring at Taylor.

"Who's Colby talking to?" He asked, returning his eyes to the blonde once more. Taylor rolled her eyes at him.

"Charlotte Greene, and I'm warning you now, before you ask her out to drinks. Her and Colby are like brother and sister, they must have gone through hell, they were partnered up before I came along and well, battle wounds are very obvious. What I'm saying is, be careful. Things between you and Colby are bad enough as it is and I'm pretty sure from the many phone calls – and by that I mean about 5 a year – me and Colby share that you two used to be best friends." Taylor smiled.

"Stop trying to find out what happened, you really don't need, or want to know, and I was not going to ask her for drinks."

"You're wrong there. It can't have been worse than some of the stuff me and Colby have seen, and that messes people up beyond belief, but what I am trying to say is that if it hurts Colby – which it does because he's hurting right now – it also hurts me. So put your damn pride away and tell me." She shook her head at his silence before walking away. This was going to be harder than she thought.

_I'm strong on the surface  
Not all the way through _

"These guys are good, barely anything we can trace." Charlotte complained.

"Nothing? You're telling me that they've killed nearly 20 people and left nothing?" Don asked angrily. Colby glanced at him, wondering if he should step in. His boss was getting mad and Charlotte did not take well to people being angry at her.

"Sorry, are you hard of hearing? Yes. I did just say that." She scowled. "And if anyone has a reason to want this case closed, its me. Three guys, Eppes, three good guys died today. So yeah, I am telling you that they left nothing. And may I add that we have more jurisdiction than you, Colby and Taylor are the only reason you have this case." Don glared at the agent. "And I have had far worse than that pathetic glare. Right Colby?" Don turned his glare to his agent. Colby looked between the two of them and wished that he hadn't came in this room. He just shrugged, it was the safest way after all.

_I've never been perfect_

"Megan, can I call you Megan?" Megan tried not to laugh at Taylor as she nodded. That must have been the fifth time that had happened. "Good, listen, I've tried with David and Colby and they won't tell me what's happened but something is up with Colby; right?" Megan sighed.

"Right." Taylor sat down on the chair opposite Megan's desk – finally someone would tell her.

"He's having nightmares, and I don't think they're about the explosion." Taylor frowned. "I live with him, not stalking him." She added, assuming that was what Megan was confused about.

"Explosion?"

"RPG flies into us, he saved my life but got pretty banged up in the process. He never told you about how Carter and me pulled the metal off his arm. The metal that should have been twisted around my neck, so I got off pretty easy." Megan nodded, not sure what to say.

"Oh, well, a few months back we found out that Colby was a Chinese spy-"

"What? Hello? Have you met Colby, he'd rather die than do something like that!"

"Taylor, let me finish. He confessed, and we had the Dwayne Carter-" Taylor's eyes widened.

"What's he done now?" There was an edge of worry in her voice that Megan hated. Having to watch Colby find out (he was a good actor, she had to admit) had been hard enough – and that wasn't even real.

"He was a Chinese spy too." Taylor paled. "Anyway, Colby escaped when he was being transferred and got onto a freighter with a man called Mason Lancer-"

"Crap." Megan looked confused. "I've heard of him before, never connected him to something. We had a few Chinese about, god, only a week or so before I was discharged. Erm, we overheard the talking about Lancer and researched him, we believed that they were bringing some drugs over to Afghanistan, and when we got Lancer's rap up it said torturing of an undercover... Oh." She whispered the last word. Swallowing, she looked at Megan. "How bad?"

Megan told her the drugs that Lancer had used on Colby. "David had to perform CPR on him."

"Hold on, why are they hating each other then?"

"David sees this as a betrayal; his best friend, his brother would be a better description, lied to him for two years. David said himself, he had thought Colby had been guilty until he saw that needle sticking out of his chest. I think he's just pissed at himself for not believing Colby, which he is showing in anger towards Colby, which is hurting Colby-"

"Which, in Colby's state of mind, is doing way more harm than David thinks it is because Colby is a genius at hiding things, compartmentalizing, a mix between mature and immature defence mechanisms. He's repressing the bad stuff, and David is projecting the negative feelings towards others. Basic defence mechanisms." Megan nodded in agreement. "We need to get them to be friends, because I don't like nervous Colby, does not suit him."

"He's not nervous, that's normal Colby, well, he's a bit paranoid which is understandable, but nothing too out of the ordinary." Taylor shook her head.

"Then something happened in the year before he joined the team, and wasn't in the army. This was not the Colby I knew." Megan couldn't help the flicker of fear that passed over her, if Taylor could see such dramatic changes then something was wrong.

"Taylor, I hate your boss. Why did you leave again?" Charlotte approached them after a few minutes of silence. Taylor smiled at her while Megan simply raised her eyebrows. "And how's the concussion? You know, the one you should not have left the hospital because of?"

Megan raised her eyebrows at this, "You said that you were fine."

"Charlotte: I've saved lives with worse, and Megan, I am fine. Ignore the stupid English chick..."

_But neither have you _

**A/N: Please review :) I know it's a sucky ending, but there will be tons of drama and more-Colby in the next chapter :) **


	3. Ice

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews!  
Disclaimer: Own nothing!**

"So, what have we got?" Taylor asked, looking over the files

"One blown up bar, 20+ casualties. You have a concussion. No suspects, no previous- Oh god, there is a M.O exactly like this." Charlotte suddenly started searching through the files laid out on the small desk she had been allocated. Don rolled his eyes – he really didn't like this woman, and knowing that there was a similar M.O would have been extremely useful earlier. Colby glanced at him; he shared the frustration at the revelation but he was running on very little sleep and didn't bother to show it.

"Well?" David asked, smiling at the seemingly exhausted woman.

"We had a case over in Liverpool, a halfway house was blown up, several service men – both American and British – inside. We never got to the bottom of it, but this," She stood up as she spoke and clipped a picture onto the board. It showed a white feather among ash and a destroyed building. "was left at the scene. We found it strange because it hadn't been blown away, and the white, it's pristine. There was not a speck of dust on it. It was as if it had been wiped clean and then placed on the scene-"

"Which is what has happened here." David added. Charlotte smiled gratefully at him.

"Did you have any suspects?" Don asked, breaking the gaze between Charlotte and David. Colby seemed relieved at that.

"We suspected a local meth lab. It's not all that common in the area, but the manager of the bar seemed to have an addiction, therefore we had the motive. We passed it onto the locals and they ruled it as a cold case as their gang all had alibis." Charlotte explained. "The place was a mess at the time though." Taylor nodded and turned to Don.

"We have any English to L.A gangs?"

–

The board was covered in maps of the general area of Liverpool, as well as the known gangs in L.A and any big-time ones that could have immigrated over to L.A. So far, only a few had shown up. "So, we have the ones from Goodison, ones from somewhere in Garston, and then the place I can't pronounce." Taylor declared, passing the copies around to the team-members. Megan smiled thankfully at her, whole Charlotte continued to frown.

"Are you sure it can be them?"

"They're the only ones with the money, means, travel, man-power to pull off this. I say they were targeting your people Greene." Don informed her coldly; she had questioned his teams results, which meant that he had more of a right to hate her than before. Colby sent Don a small look, silently asking him to back off, but Charlotte had already been angered.

"You have a problem with me Eppes?" David shared a look with Taylor at this. Don just glared at the woman.

"You think I have one?"

"You-"

"Charlotte!" The blonde woman stopped short, her hand dangerously close to her waist. "Take a breather." Colby suggested, already planning on walking over to the woman and making sure that she did not stab his boss.

He had been right: People from his old life rarely got along with his team, hell, they usually wound up trying to kill each other.

**A/N: Mega-short! I know, but the drama starts in the next chapter! **


	4. Breaks apart with one final glow

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Sorry I haven't updated. BT decided that they would have some fault in their internet, so most of the Northwest (according to BT anyway, so it's probably a lie) has been without internet :/  
Disclaimer: Own nothing! **

**Imagine you could tear the world apart **

"Oh, that's it!" Taylor was tired of it, and, watching Colby walk away from David after another unsuccessful attempt at talking to the other man, she finally let these feelings be shown. She waited until she was sure Colby had gone (she assumed that he was with either Charlie or Charlotte) before she approached David. The break room was empty with the exception of her and David – she was thankful for that at least. "You know he was tortured right?" David turned to her, looking at her as if she had grown an extra head. "Yeah, you see, from the way you've been acting, I'm not so sure."

"Taylor-"

"No! David, don't say that I do not need to know, do not say I don't understand or that it's none of my business!" She sat down on the table before continuing, her voice softening, "I understand, okay, I know that you feel betrayed, that your angry at yourself. You're projecting this anger onto Colby-" 

"And why would I be angry at myself?" He interrupted coldly, but she could hear it in his voice. The thin line of emotion that meant his walls were falling.

"You're angry at yourself, because you believed him. You believed his confession and you didn't see past it. But, I think you didn't. You never truly believed he was guilty, because he told you about some of the things that went down out there. You know that, no matter how damaged he is, that is the one thing he could never do." And there it was, the blunt honesty and the look of recognition in David's eyes.

"How?"

"I've been there, with another person, not Colby but it still hurt..." She looked away for a second before meeting his eyes again. "David, he was held against his will, restrained, and tortured with three extremely painful and mentally scarring drugs, all the while thinking that you all hated him, that no one was coming for him, knowing that the only person – that he knew of – that could clear his name was dead and that he was going to die." David looked at the floor. "I know, it's hard David, but... I can't get through to him and that is why you need to forgive yourself. He needs you, to be his friend, because he's..." She sighed. "What happened would have traumatised him. It has – he has nightmares, probably flashbacks, that stuff. He needs his friends, because if he... If he ever does have a melt-down, with Colby – it'll be on nuclear scale. I can't let that happen to him, which is why I need you."

David could only nod, as before he was able to speak, the door opened, revealing Charlotte.

"We have them."

**Lay it all out like a weather chart **

Charlotte and Don sat in the van, silently watching David, Colby, Taylor, and Megan through the monitors. They had found the possible meet for two of the gangs major players, and had sent in their team. "So, how long you known Colby?" If he was going to be stuck with the woman for a considerably high amount of hours, he may as well try to make some sort of conversation.

"Sixteen years. No, not all of it spent in the war, you're really bad at hiding things." She smirked. At least she seemed to enjoy their conversation. "So when do you think the cute one and Colby are gonna sort out whatever shit is going on between them?" Don looked at her, slightly confused. Cute one? "Oh, dear God, David Sinclair is cute one." He laughed at that and shook his head at the woman.

"You even know what happened?"

"Let's see – best friend of sixteen years arrested for treason. Yep, that definitely shown a few red flags. Let's just say that when the memo arrived at my desk I nearly killed the director of the FBI, DOJ, CIA, CID, all of the alphabet soup to find out what has happened. In the end, some smart, sorry, terrified guy gave in and I got written into the case. I knew from the beginning in a way, there was no chance of Colby doing anything for the Chinese. Carter wasn't there, so I can understand him doing it. So to answer your question, Eppes, yes I do know what happened. Wish to hell it hadn't of happened, and pretty sure you share the same sentiment." Don nodded.

"Soon." He said hopefully. He wanted nothing more for this to blow over, and- hold on. Re-running Charlotte's lecture/rant/answer in his mind, a few words stood out. "Why'd you know Colby would never do anything for the Chinese? And what did you mean by Carter wasn't there?"

"Ah, that's need to know. Oh, don't give me that look. I've had worse, Eppes, a glare ain't gonna do much in getting me to spill..." She paused, and when she spoke again her voice was softer than Don thought possible. "A hostage situation, lasted 3 days. Chinese involvement. God knows how they ended up in Afghanistan, but still, it wasn't pretty. Me and Colby had been on temp. medical leave, he'd took one to the shoulder, and I'd taken one to the ankle. No point in going home for either of us so we just stayed behind for a few days. Wrong place, wrong time I guess." Don nodded.

"Charl, we got them." Taylor's voice crackled in via the radio links they had with their team. "Well, enough to get their fingerprints and a warrant to search their place anyways."

"Then we got enough- Eppes?"

Don looked momentarily surprised. Was she asking his permission? He nodded anyway. "Okay, you got the orders. Move in." Several answers of reply came in. Charlotte grabbed her gun, loading it as she scanned over the screens. She noticed Don's look of confusion – one that he wore often when it came to her. "Just in case. Backup. You get slightly paranoid after nearly two decades in the army." That he didn't like, but he nodded anyway and decided to do the same.

"We have trouble!" Seemed like paranoia could come in handy at sometimes.

"What is it Colby?"

"They-" Colby stopped mid-sentence as gunfire exploded around the park. Don and Charlotte ran out of the van, pushing their way through the oncoming stampede of a crowd with their guns aimed carefully ahead of them.

"FBI! Put the guns down-" The man froze at the sound of Charlotte's voice. The Brit kept her focus on the man whole Don scanned around for his team. David was in a similar position to him and Charlotte, except he was half-hidden behind a memorial. Colby was leaning against the back of a bench, breathing heavily, but his attention was focused on the other person slumped against him. Charlotte must have also noticed this, as her grip on the gun tightened.

Taylor.

"Sir, put the gun down." She ordered, her was quivering slightly.

The man, seemingly unwilling to give up without a fight, started to raise the gun. He was too slow, as less than a second later, he was on the ground full of holes.

The next few seconds sped forward in a blur, David went to check their perp's pulse, Charlotte raced over to Colby and Taylor, while Don urgently called for a medic.

**Take your time 'cuz you're up against space **

Colby desperately tried to keep his hands from shaking as he tried to stem the bleeding. Taylor was fading away – fast. Her skin was nearly white in colour, and her breaths came slowly and erratically. He heard someone talking, something about a paramedic. He looked up briefly to see Charlotte, her eyes full of tears she was trying to hide. "Colby, let go, the paramedics are here." Someone had hold of his shoulder, another hold on his hand, and was silently pulling him away from Taylor. He didn't fight back.

David watched them take Taylor away, torn between his teams newest agent and Colby. He decided on Colby, as Megan was already getting into the ambulance. He turned around, quickly approaching Colby, when he saw Charlotte's eyes widen and heard the words that he did not want to hear. "I need a medic over here!" David broke into a run.

**A/N: So... what's wrong with Colby? **


	5. Realisation

_A/N: Thanks for reviewing!  
Disclaimer: Own Charlotte and Taylor. Do not own Numb3rs or any of the songs/lyrics/quotes (well, I own a few of the future quotes) used in this story._

**Take your time 'cause you're up against space,  
Sweep up the tears running down your face.**

"I'm fine." Yes, so the fact that you're grimacing in pain, bleeding, and looking like you're ready to collapse now translates to fine. If so, people should be very worried about American definitions.

"You're bleeding." Charlotte replied steadily, trying to see the wound at the same time as keeping her firm pressure on it. She mouthed an apology when he winced and didn't bother to say that the wince proved that he was not fine. "You've been shot/"

"It's a graze." Colby gritted back, trying to stand up, only to be pushed down by the small agent. If there was one thing he'd say about her is that looks can be deceiving. Charlotte was a mere 5ft 5'' and she still managed to overpower him.

He blamed it on blood loss and pain for now.

"What happened?" David

"I'm fine." Colby replied to David, a part of him was extremely relieved that David seemed to care – at least that meant something.

"Yes, and I'm the queen of bloody England." Charlotte bit back any other remarks as she started to peel away his shirt. "David, does this look fine to you?" She moved over so that the other man could see Colby's arm.

"Colby has strange definitions of fine."

"Agreed!" Charlotte momentarily smiled at David before returning her attention back to Colby. "It doesn't look too bad, you should be fine after some stitches. David, where are the medics?" David did a quick scan of the surrounding area.

"They all went with Taylor." Charlotte raised her eyebrows.

"They only sent one ambulance?" She shook her head, throwing David her keys while helping Colby stand up. This was going to be a long day. "Okay, David, we'll have to get him to my car. He _does not_ have just a graze, and he needs to get to the hospital. Now would be nice."

**You burn bright when you're left alone  
****Build up the speed to bring you home.**  
**Turn off the lights and watch you glow!**

Don glanced around the scene, carefully watching over the crime techs that were scouring over the scene. It was supposed to be simple; LAPD had contacted them, informing that they had received an anonymous tip claiming that a drug ring – one that included the gang that they were currently chasing – was meeting here. From what Don had seen on the surveillance, there had only been two people at the meet and they had exchanged money only. One of the men had been arrested outside of the park, while the other was currently being examined by a medical examiner (as if they needed a C.O.D). "Taylor is in surgery, David's with Colby, Colby is getting his arm fixed." Don couldn't help but turn in surprise when he heard the young English woman's voice. "Yeah, yeah, I'm quiet. Kinda comes with the job. Turns out the bad guys aren't so stupid, and if they hear big banging footsteps – like a few of your SWAT team – they tend to either run or shoot." He nodded. "Wow, it's Colby all over again." Charlotte commented. Her and Eppes were not close – they were anything but – and they had only known each other for no more than 36 hours, but she knew enough about him – and guys like him – that this was not a good state for him to be in. His team was currently falling apart – one with a gaping hole in her chest, one with a messed up mental state (not to mention the hole in his arm), two of them currently not speaking, and her appearance hadn't exactly been useful. "You gonna speak Eppes? Silence doesn't suit you."

"Very funny Greene." He glared, turning away from her and walking towards the FBI-issued van.

"Well, I am know for my striking humour." She smirked back. Charlotte didn't feel like smirking, or smiling, or doing anything other than killing the person that had shot Taylor, but she had to smile. This was who she was, and she knew full well that she would go grab that Sinclair guy later and get drunk with him (because she couldn't imagine getting drunk with Eppes, and painkillers and alcohol don't mix – especially when Colby is involved). "And I am also known for hating people who shoot my friends, trust me Eppes, the last guy that shot Colby ended up looking like that holey cheese that I have never been able to remember the name of." A flicker of a smile appeared on Don's face, lasting only a few seconds, but it was still a smile.

"How bad was Colby?" Don didn't need to ask about Taylor – she was bad. He had seen his agent being taken into the ambulance, and from the red-rimmed eyes of the other agent, he could tell that her condition was serious.

"Annoying as hell. He kept insisting he was fine, but, I do have pretty good medical knowledge and a lot of experience with gunshot wounds, and I can tell you that he was not fine."

"We talking about the bullet in his arm here?" Don looked curiously at the agent as he removed his jacket and placed it in the trunk of his car. Her mask slipped. For a few seconds he could see her, the raw fear on her face that his simple question had brought.

He was pretty sure that was not a good sign.

"What do you think Eppes?" And that wasn't one either.

**A/N: Planned to be so much longer (and include the first Charlotte/David interaction) but the time (twenty to one in the morning) kinda messed that up. Reviews and feedback are really appriciated :D **


	6. Not worth dying for

**A/N: Ah, yes – I'm updating! Thanks you so much for the reviews :D  
There will be more Colby soon, but most of this chapter is case-based. And I know it's mainly dialogue, but the teams feelings will be included (as well as a seriously sad back story for how Charlotte and Colby became so close, because we've already had him and Taylor's) in future chapters. I'm also pretty sure I shouldn't be allowed to listen to Green Day any more...  
Disclaimer: Own nothing from the show.**

"David's staying at the hospital until they discharge Colby, but the doctors say that it'll be more than five hours until we get word on Taylor." Megan informed them, looking through the observational window at one of their suspects. He was a Hispanic male, late 30's, she'd even venture into early 40's. He was tall, and heavily muscled. Charlotte frowned, he had gang tattoo's – just not the ones she was looking for.

"Colby will be staying there anyway." Charlotte added, momentarily looking at both Megan and Don.

"I though you said he only needs stitches."

Charlotte nodded. "He does only need stitches, Eppes, but that doesn't mean that he is going to leave Tay." She sighed, shifting her weight a little as she turned to the FBI agents. "Guy got history?"

"Yeah, guy's name is Mikel Valdez, unmarried, one child. He has 3 DUI's, wanted for armed robbery, several assaults. About six months ago, LAPD brought him in for questioning when a new victim came forward and identified him. He managed to escape while being transported from jail." Megan informed them. "Not to mention the gang connections." Charlotte nodded, letting a small smile appear on her face.

"This ought to be fun."

–

"Where's your boss?" Charlotte gently placed the file on the table, meeting Don's eyes for a brief second as he started to speak – again. The interrogation had lasted for over an hour now, and so far they were getting nothing.

"For the tenth time, I don't know what you're talkin' about man!" It took a lot of will power not to roll his eyes at that.

"We have you on armed robbery, drug dealing, possession of an illegal substance, possession of a firearm-"

"Not to mention the explosions in your car that are probably going to link you to the attempted murder of a fed, murder of three Feds, and, oh, what was the estimate Eppes?" Don hadn't known about the explosives in the perps car – he had a feeling that it was explained in the file – but he smirked anyway.

"Somewhere over twenty now, nearing 30. Not even adding the injured."

"And then there is the fact that you have killed three agents that were my friends, and you're in danger of being connected to the attempted murder of my best friend, which, if you were left in a locked, dark room with me and a few of my friends, would not be enjoyable from your point of view. So, unless you want to be locked away in said dark room, I suggest you tell us how to get to your boss."

"I-I can't! He'll kill me." Don had to admit – this girl was good. He wasn't sure if she planned on carrying out her threat (and part of him was unsure about how he felt towards that itself) but it was obviously working. Their perp had actually admitted that he had a boss – or someone out to kill him.

Usually the same thing.

"And so will I." Charlotte moved away from the table, taking slow steps towards the blinds.

"You're bluffing. They don't let you do that here." Charlotte smirked, pulling down one of the blinds before turning to him.

"I'm not the FBI sweetie. I can do what I want." Don nodded in agreement, nearly laughing at the 'Oh shit' look on Mikel's face. Charlotte smirked, slowly closing another blind – leaving only one more left. "Your choice."

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you who he is. I don't know where he is, I swear, he contacted me through another guy, and then only through a phone." Charlotte smiled and left the room.

–

Colby winced as he tried to shift his arm. The bullet hadn't done much damage – nothing that needed surgery anyway – and there was no chance of him staying in overnight while this guy was out there. One – he seemed to have acquired a new level of hate (he'd never admit that it was fear) for needles – and two – he hated hospitals in general. They had told him that he had to wear a sling for a while, a fact that he hated. Slings meant no shooting, therefore no field work. And to top it all off, he had no idea if Taylor was alive or not.

No, she had to be alive. He couldn't lose her – not after Jo, not after, well, there were a lot of people he could name. "Hey man." Now that he didn't expect. He looked up to find David standing in the doorway.

"Hey." Colby smiled at his partner, shifting his arm again and making sure he kept his gaze away from the discarded IV line on the bed. He wasn't going to freak out in front of David – that he was sure of.

David, however, did notice the way that Colby was avoiding the needle. It was understandable really, and he hated himself for not seeing it sooner. His friend had already been hurting, trying to deal with everything on his own, and David had just given him the cold shoulder, acted as if he didn't matter. He was just glad that Taylor had been there for the last week – at least Colby would've had someone he trusted to talk to. He knew that Colby had talked to Megan – once – and it hadn't been a 'real talk' according to Megan.

"How's Taylor?" David was snapped out of his thoughts by Colby's worried voice.

"She's doing good, they think her surgery should be over in about an hour, but the doc said that she's doing good; no complications." Colby nodded, looking at his friend. David wasn't lying, which was a relief.

–

The next two hours passed in silence. Don had called to inform them that Charlotte was on her way to them, and that Charlie and Amita were coming in to assist with tracking the movements of their current suspects via the text messages that had been sent to Mikel.

"Any-" Charlotte paused on entering the waiting room, a small smirk on her face. Colby must be really tired, sleeping in a hospital is hard enough, let alone in a waiting room. Deciding to let Colby sleep, Charlotte moved over to David, gently shaking his shoulder to wake him up. "Any word?" She whispered. David looked confused for a few seconds, probably at why she was listening. He glanced at Colby, nodding in either answer or understanding – she couldn't decide.

"Yeah," He answered, keeping his voice low so they didn't wake up their friend. It was obvious that Colby was exhausted, and David was angry at himself for not noticing it sooner. "They said that she's in recovery-" He paused, looking up at the clock on the wall, his eyebrows raising slightly in surprise. "She'll be in room 5 now. Just down the hall. You wanna wake Colby up?" David glanced at his partner again, seeing the clear distress on Colby's face.

"Go see Taylor, make sure she's okay for us, would ya'?" David wasn't stupid. He knew that she was just asking him to check on their friend so that she could talk to Colby. He nodded, smiling at her for second before leaving the room.

A/N: Next chapter: Colby and Charlotte's back story :D Please review!


	7. Love gone wrong

_**A/N: Changed the title and summary after clicking on the little numb3rs link and realising that they sucked (word of the day – blame the wa-a-ay-too-dirty-minded friends.) Anyway, moving on, thanks to Sheaffer for the message :D And please enjoy this chapter! I had planned on getting it up earlier but the horrible little thing called Firefox took 40 minutes (no joke) to load the start page. So I was pissed...  
Disclaimer: 58 stories, God knows how many chapters, and I'm still putting this thing in. Here we go:  
I own – Charlotte, Taylor, and any brief mentions of Jo found in this story. I (guess what?) don't own – Numb3rs – and probably never will considering stupid CBS cancelled it!  
**Italics is either memories/Colby's dreams/nightmares._

"_Colby!" Her heart wrenching plea for help was enough to make him want to run over to her and tell her that everything will be okay. But it wouldn't – and he knew it. It wouldn't be okay._

"Colby?" Charlotte whispered, taking a seat next to his sleeping figure. There was a slight shake to her friends shoulders, a thin line of sweat on his face. He was obviously distressed, the tormented look told her that he was having some sort of nightmare. His muscles were tensing up. That couldn't be good for the hole in his arm courtesy of their dead gang banger. "Fuck." Yep, C, that sums you and Colby up quite well.

"_No, no, no.." He could hear himself muttering – he was quite sure that it was his voice but everything seemed so distant. "Please, no." He whispered again, realising that his attempted were _

_rather useless. A shaking hand gripped his arm, he could hear Charlotte's terrified sobs. She had just seen her sister gunned down: it was understandable._

There was an alarming amount of blood on his hands, unfortunately – to him at least – none of it was his.

"Colby," Charlotte choked out. Her voice was like an echo to him, seemingly miles away. "Colby, she- Jo's gone." No, that wasn't true. He wouldn't believe it. Jo couldn't be 'gone'. She was always there – her and Charlotte, the two constants in his life. He didn't notice the tears currently streaming down his face. It was all new: he had been scared before, but never this scared. "Colby, please, you have," Another pause. "You have to let her go." 

"Colby, come on, don't make me mad." She bit her lip, come on Colby, silently praying, open your eyes for me. "Granger, wake up!" She shook him again. "Colby!" This time, he did wake up. Charlotte let out a pained, but relieved breath of air that she hadn't realised she had been holding.

"Wha- Taylor?" At least he seemed like he knew where he was, she released her grip on his shoulder, letting him sit up in the chair.

"Taylor's with David. They're probably going to be planning some sort of revenge on me for kicking David into Taylor's room, but hey, I think I'll live." Colby smiled at that. Even in a situation like theirs – which even he would admit was quite messed up – she still managed to have a sense of humour. Kind of like him. "When was the last time you slept?" She asked, the humour being replaced by quiet concern.

"About three minutes ago." Technically true. She hadn't asked him when the last time he had slept without a nightmare was. He was glad she hadn't because he wasn't exactly sure when that was.

"Rephrased: when was the last time you slept without having a nightmare?" The hesitation to answer was all she needed. "Look, I know what happened with Tay was gonna bring back memories, same goes with me Colb'." She paused, wishing he would make eye contact with her or... something. "And God knows what seeing Lancer-" He flinched at that, "would do to you. But Colby, I lied to Eppes. We've been best friends since we were 13, you nearly married my sister, we've been through hell and back together, and I know when something is wrong." 

"Nothing is wrong." And if she believed that she was an idiot. Colby knew it just as much as she did. It was an outright lie. They had known each other long enough to see through their _many _masks. The pair of them were alike in that way, from a young age they had been brought up to believe that showing their emotions only brought trouble and pain to those around them. They were people of honour and duty. Hiding came natural to them, whether it be emotions or physically getting out of the way of a bullet (in some cases, both). "Charlotte: I-"

He couldn't do it. He was tired of all the lies, the hiding. Charlotte was the only thing in his past that knew exactly what he had been through. David could guess, Don could assume, Megan could tell he was scarred – but none of them knew why he was like this. Why he _had_ to accept this assignment. It had been his one attempt at closure – for both his fiancée's and his fathers deaths. None of them knew that, and it wasn't like he could just tell them. It'd just add to the lies, the things they didn't know. It all added up and he could understand why they seemingly hated him – or at least, why David hated him. "You're not fine Colby." She told him softly, placing her hand on his shoulder, her other tightly gripping his hand. "Neither of us are to be honest, but you more than me." He smiled at that, removing his gaze from the floor and looking at his friend.

"Nice."

"Aren't I?" She smiled back, easily slipping back into their normal banter. "Now, you wanna go see Taylor? You know, before either she or David kills the other party, or more importantly, us for placing them in the same room."

**A/N: Still not the full back story, but it''ll take a while for the full-thing to play out.**


	8. Show me the nearest bar?

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews!  
Disclaimer: Own nothing! **

Charlotte watched Colby walk away, smiling at the friendly – and rightly worried – look that Sinclair sent him as the two passed in the doorway to the waiting room. It was good to see them as friends again – and not cold, annoying twits. She nearly smirked at that thought. Men were very similar, but these two – acting like a pair of twelve year old's. "Sinclair, she doing okay?"

"Awake and complaining." He smiled laughed at that, but she didn't miss the look in his eyes.

"You heard that conversation didn't you?" She asked, not meeting his eyes as she continued to stare defiantly at the ground. He nodded, walking over to her and taking the seat next to her. "How much?"

"He nearly married your sister, and seeing Lancer would do stuff to him." She sighed, crossing her arms across her chest defensively as she looked up to meet his gaze. For some reason, she smiled. He made her smile – oh shit. She decided that she could deal with her slight attraction to him later, now it was about Colby and Taylor.

"I'm only giving you a brief, you want the details, you'd have to get Colby to speak to you. Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't find this in his file. It's not classified or anything – unless my sister was doing some big undercover op, but considering out age, and the fact that we hadn't even joined the army, let alone the FBI, I highly doubt it." She blushed when she realised she was rambling. "Sorry I ramble when I'm nervous... Anyway: You know Colby's father is dead, right?" He heard a hint of sadness in her voice, showing that she had also been hit hard by this loss too. He nodded. "He, like Colby, was working undercover, trying to route out a mole in the DOJ. The mole was Lancer, back when he was lower down in the food chain, but he had high friends. Colby's dad died, because he got too close to Lancer." David took advantage of her pause to take in this new information. Colby had followed in the footsteps of his father in many ways, he had always known that, but he had never thought that he could connect them with Lancer. Her left hand tightened around her arm for a second as she continued. "When we were 20, he proposed to my sister. They were really all that, you know, love at first sight, all that crap... They came over to tell me, and," He instinctively reached out and took her hand in this. She didn't show any need for him to let go, and actually returned the squeeze. "Sniper in the building across the street from the restaurant, the floor above our place. Trust me, it didn't take long for us to work out who it was. Lancer. We knew he was dirty, but there was never any proof. So, we joined the Army that year, never looked back." It was her turn to be comforting now. David looked like he was in shock – and in all honesty, he was. Colby... He couldn't even begin to imagine how hard the undercover stint had been on his friend. "David? I'm not the best comforter here, so I'll put it out there. Want to show me the nearest bar?" And he nodded. Beer seemed like a good option right now.

**A/N: Short, but come on, it's worth it :D I mean: David and Charlotte at a bar (must I say any more?) **


	9. Battle cry

**A/N: Okay, I decided to add in a filler/flashback chapter while I work on the next one as I am a) unbelievably stuck with Writers block. B) Snowed in. The snow started – 1 hour after school finished. Timing sucks. :/ Anyway, sorry about not updating and I hope you all like this!  
Warning: This chapter includes mentions of; (very, very blink and you miss it type of small) mentions of attempted suicide, and depression. Also includes death and a BIT of an unhappy Charlotte (translation: swearing!) Feel free to skip this chapter if you don't like tiny, TEENY things like that.  
Disclaimer: Own nothing.**

_We've been deep in the trenches.  
Ain't that friendship? _

_It's not always roses, but, everybody knows this. _

Colby Granger's father had died. The news spread through the small town like a wildfire would in a dry forest. You couldn't walk into a shop without seeing the shocked faces, and in most cases, a crying family friend or two. The Grangers had been friends with just about everyone in the town, but they were especially close to the Greene family. Jo and Colby were close to dating – even a blind man could see that – and him and Charlotte were as close as ever. They were practically family. So it did strike people as odd to see the two Greene sisters walked around the small high street, laughing hysterically at one of their odd jokes and being, well, happy. The entire town assumed that they hadn't been told – after all, the twins' mother wasn't 'all there' if you get what I mean, and would've forgotten to tell them. Eventually, someone saw sense and sat the two down.

"Mrs Adams? What's wrong?" Jo asked, concern creeping into her voice as the elderly woman sat them down on the nearest leaf-green bench. Mrs Adams was usually the gossiper of the town – nothing could get past her – and to see her crying shook them. "Mrs A?"

"Oh girls, I'm so sorry.." She started. Charlotte's eyes widened. She knew a lot about those words, more than Jo. Her breath hitched. Crying people around town. Strange looks. How come she hadn't noticed it sooner?

"Is Colby okay?" Jo caught her gaze questioningly. What? "Mrs Adams, you need to tell me this."

"It's not Colby my dears, it's David."Jo's hand flew up to her mouth to muffle the scream that nearly erupted from her throat. Colby's dad? But no... It wasn't possible. David had only just gotten back from God-knows-where. His tour had ended. NO!

Charlotte was having a much different reaction to the news. Her expression showed very little sign of her even caring about the news; but inside she was screaming. But no. She had to be strong. For Jo, for Colby. She could break down later, when she wasn't in the middle of the street. Home. That, to her and Jo, was Colby's house – or with Colby in general. As long as the three of them were together – didn't matter where they were – as long as they were within a metre of each other, they were home. Her house – that was all it was to her; a house – was like a living hell. Since her father left three years ago, her mother had been depressed. Not just mope around the house depressed. Overdose level depressed. They had moved here shortly after that... incident, and hadn't looked back since. Their mother was getting better, but Colby was still home to her, and if she ever had any problems – she'd walk down the road. Not up the stairs. As strange as that sounded.

She felt an icy hand grip her arm, tightly squeezing it as if it was the only lifeline it had. Knowing Jo, it probably was. Her sister was scared – she understood that. Both her and Jo were adopted (the chances of them having a birthday on the same day were impossible, but there was a day between them,) but she could still tell exactly how her 'other half' was feeling. Now? It was fear. Grief. Disbelief. She was feeling exactly the same.

_We stuck in this battlefield.  
I know just how you feel._

They got to Colby's house about half an hour later. Walking through the snow wasn't the easiest thing, and as they had approached Colby's house it had transformed from a couple of odd flakes to a full-on storm. Normally, they wouldn't complain, because, _normally_, they would be attacking Colby and his father with snow balls while Shelia, Colby's mother, made them hot chocolate and prepared a mother-to-daughter talk for them as they all knew that their adoptive mother wouldn't give a crap about how many layers of clothing they had on. Now? It was impossible to even consider that because today was the day that David Granger died. They knocked on the door – Jo's hands were shaking and it was impossible to tell whether it was from the freezing temperatures or the reason that they were at Colby's door in such weather. It took a few seconds, but a figure came to the door and opened it – even through the glass the pair could see how Colby was shaking. The door swung open and not even Charlotte could hide the look of shock on her face. Oh God... "Colby..." Jo breathed.

He was covered in blood. It made Jo sick to the stomach and she was unsure of what to do, her heart torn between making sure it wasn't is blood (and if it wasn't, her mentioning it would hurt him) or pulling both him and Charlotte into a hug. She settled for the second option – there was an ambulance parked outside the house that she had failed to notice before, and she was sure that he was okay. Colby, for once, didn't pull away, or mutter something about teenage girls and hugs, instead, he started to cry. And if that didn't make her heart break in half she didn't know what could.

_Standing up for us.  
I'mma' be a soldier._

The funeral. Colby was shaking at the mere thought of it. He couldn't even close his eyes to stop himself crying, because whenever he did, he was assaulted by images of the car, the gun in the window, and his father hitting the ground. No pulse. Blood. God, there was so much blood. He hated it. It made him sick, and yet he seemed to be surrounded by it. He felt a hand on his shoulder, but he couldn't even smile when he saw Charlotte standing there.

You alright?

No.

There was no need for words.

He had been fumbling with his tie before, unable to pit it on properly with is blurred vision. Charlotte nodded, walked around him and knelt down on the floor. "We're hear for you Colby, okay? Don't forget it." She said it nervously, as if she believed that he could. It was damn near impossible. But he saw the emotion in her eyes, and he couldn't bring himself to speak. He nodded instead and let her do his tie without another word.

_You give me hope  
You give me strength  
I'd give you better than I could ever give myself  
Always know that, I got your back  
Don t matter wherever – as long as were together _

The next funeral was just as bad. Charlotte was shaking this time – not Jo, because Jo wasn't here any more and the mere thought of that seemed to be out of this world, because you just don't split twins up. You just _don't. _Her hand was tightly wrapped around Colby's and she now understood why Jo always did this to her, it gave you something to hold onto, someone to believe in. Because when things get so bad, so unbelievably bad, that you're struggling to believe in things again, and you just need something to hold onto. That was what she needed. She was this close to falling apart and she knew that Colby was just the same, but they still had each other. She may have lost a sister, and him a fiancé, but they still had each other, and she had to cling to that hope. She had to because she couldn't become her mother, she couldn't become the mother that goes crazy and Jo, God, what would Jo think if she did?

_We've been through too much  
Time for us to group up  
Come on and lets stand up now for us  
This is our battle cry  
Promise you that im certified  
All we gotta do is stand up now for us  
This is our battle cry _

Colby stood at the side of the grave. A day. That was what Charlotte had said. A day since the funeral. Had it been that long already? He knew that it had been a week since... since she died. The same way. There was no doubt about it. It was the same person that was screwing with his life, destroying him. He closed his eyes again, praying to God that something – someone – could just block the images and sounds out of his head. He wanted to be able to sleep at night without waking up screaming, without crying, and without noticing that she was gone. He had seen her go down. Seen the blood. Watched as they took her away from them, and cried as the surgeon told them that she didn't make it. He reached forward, pressing his hand onto the cold gravestone and shivering as a gust of icy wind blew onto his back. He could feel the tears rolling down his face, and for once; he just didn't care. She was gone and nothing made sense any more.

_It's so hard when the night falls  
And I don't get your phone calls  
Your everything to me_

"Greene?" Someone entered the technical analysis room (if it could be called that, because a tent made a crap room) from behind her and she could tell by his voice that he came bearing bad news. Otherwise known as; something has happened to Colby.

"Tommy. How many times? First name with me only. Greene or ma'am – when in here – makes me sound like my mother, therefore, while in here, it's Charlotte." Keep up the act, don't let them see that you are terrified about whatever Colby has done to himself now. She stood up and turned around, fixing the young soldier with a stern but gentle gaze. She studied his face and body language. Nervous, tense, worried, she'd even go as far as to describe him as scared (if he'd listened to any of the bull shit Colby came out with – only half true – then she could understand why). "What's happened to Colby?"

Tommy's head shot up in surprise. "Don't ask mate, just tell me honestly and I won't bite your head off." He nodded.

"GSW-" Shit, shit, shit. "to the shoulder." She felt her leg's go weak with relief. Not a head shot. Grabbing onto the back of her chair – she wasn't going to sit down, she was just relieved, not light headed or anything, she nodded at him to continue. "They're evacuating him now, they said they'll send someone to you cos your family and..."

"Tommy. It's not the first time he's been shot, and certainly won't be the last. I know the drill. Now, get back out there and make sure we don't end up full of bullets, or blown to pieces, cos that would just add a whole 'nother load of crap to the crap that this day is."

_You heal me when these bullets go through me._

"Shut it." Colby opened his mouth to protest again as Charlotte pushed the wheelchair to the end of the bed. "Seriously, I can kick your ass and we both know it. I know, we both hate these pathetic things, but come on, what harm could it do?" He started to answer, she cut him off with a swift kick to the ankle. "You weren't meant to answer that!"

He just glared at the wheelchair. This was the last time he'd ever get shot.

_And if i had to retreat  
I know you'll fall back with me  
And if you got problems  
You already know whose going to solve 'em _

_A/N: Wow. Long. Yay! And I have a feeling updates will be more often because we're snowed in by the looks of it and it is still coming down (light according to BBC, but it's snowed 6 inches in the last four hours xD) heavy! :D _


	10. I wish you saw

**A/N: I do exist. I'm still alive, surgery went okay and I'm back to writing again :D I was gonna update during Christmas, but life got in the way, and I was focusing on my other story (numbers: hold on, hold tight, I will be updating it soon depending on when this _stupid writers block _ that I cannot shake goes!) so, I'm back to this!  
Disclaimer: own nothing. **

"Let me out Colby." Taylor glared. She hated hospitals with a passion. People died in them – you wouldn't think that was what freaked her out about them, considering her career history (and the fact that she was friends with Colby and Charlotte, you couldn't be around them without risking death), but she was and she hated being scared. The sooner she was out of here the better. "Granger, I am begging you."

Colby just shook his head and smirked.

"Why not?" He just gave her a look. "Seriously. You got shot and you carried on shooting!"

"That was different. Plus, Charlotte has told me, and I quote 'Keep her ass there or so help me God I will hurt you in ways you couldn't imagine', and have you ever seen a guy go against Charlotte and live?" Taylor thought about it for a second, her eyes widening when she reached her conclusion. 

"That girl is dangerous!"

"And you really shouldn't be on morphine." Colby wasn't really here because of Charlotte (well, that was only 50% of the reason, but what could he say? That girl was terrifying). He was worried about Taylor, it was probably unnecessary worry, but he had that feeling. A bad feeling. And whenever he had that bad feeling, something went wrong. He'd called Charlotte and asked her to keep an eye on the team and call if they needed him for **anything**. He had also asked for her to make sure David was okay, she got nervous round about there. Wonder why...

Realization hit Colby. Taylor noticed the way his face tensed up, and she would've started laughing if it wasn't for her stitches (laughing did little good for them). She had already received a call off a very hungover, and permanently embarrassed, Charlotte about her night with David. It had started with them getting drunk, and led to her waking up in his room the next morning. Taylor had very nearly pulled a stitch at that moment.

"Colb?" She asked, a hint of mischievousness in her voice. She knew she should call David the second Colby left. They might not have gotten off to the best start, but even she had to take pity on the poor guy. He'd probably be dead soon anyway, if Colby was thinking what she thought he was.

"I am going to kill David." He was.

"Okay, I know you're mad, but its Charlotte, she even slept with Tommy for gods sakes!"

"She _what_?" Oh, she was just making this worse. She knew how protective Colby was over his would've-been sister in law, and she had seen what happened to any guy that hurt her. God help David.

"Okay, think of it this way, now you and David are even?"

"Completely different things!" He argued back. He wasn't that angry. Sure, he was a little mad, but he could see how Taylor was trying not to laugh (though, that could just be the morphine), and if it kept her mind off... other things, he'd be happy.

"How?" She smirked. This was fun. She had to admit, she was amazed at how fast they had returned to their routine of banter that they had kept up whilst serving their country. She'd thought that it would've taken at least a month, but they had started it up from pretty much their first day together (even Don had laughed at some of the things they said).

"Well, I was serving my country. He was..."

"Sleeping with his partners best friend/sister. Yeah, I see your point, BUT, I don't think Charl' would take kindly to you killing him. You know what she can do with knives." He laughed at that and shook his head. The things Charlotte could do with knives would scare the best of them, hell, it even scared **him.**

"See? Even on... whatever this is, I'm right!"

After a few moments of silence, Colby spoke again. "So Charlotte and Tommo?"

**The heart is a bloom  
Shoots up through the stony ground **

"We gonna talk about last night?" David asked, glancing at Charlotte. She was wearing sunglasses, so he couldn't be sure if she was awake or not. The pair had been given an address by Mikel, who claimed this was the place that they were looking for. He'd told them that the guy who had contacted him had texted him this address, but they couldn't be sure if this was a trap or not, so Don had asked Charlotte if she'd go watch the place with David, Colby being occupied with Taylor. David and Charlotte had been pretty successful at avoiding each other until then. Don hadn't noticed the awkwardness, or the looks both David and Charlotte were sending him that, to anyone who'd notice, would've clearly said 'do not do this'. Lord knows, Charlotte had thought, how he can't notice!

"It was a one-night stand. It could happen again. Either way, Colby _never _finds out."

"Why?" David knew it was a stupid question, but he wanted to talk to her.

Charlotte smirked. "You got any sisters David?" He nodded. "What would you do if Colby slept with one of them in a seriously drunken night?" He laughed at that. "No seriously, last guy that slept with me – that he knows of – was killed the next day." Granted they were undercover at the time and the guy was a major child kidnapper and she definitely didn't regret giving Colby the order to shoot the second she saw the gun in his hand.

She had to laugh, though, at the look of fear on David's face. "Okay, you are so easy to mess with. You'd be crap undercover if you think Colby, of all people, would kill you."

David glanced at the floor. "Wouldn't blame him if he did." He didn't know if Charlotte had heard him. Half of him hoped she had, while the other half was desperately praying that she hadn't.

Charlotte took off her sunglasses and looked at him. "David. No matter how horrible you've been acting, Colby would never do that, not to anyone who doesn't deserve it. You don't think you deserve it, right?" He hesitated. That was all she needed. Charlotte's eyes widened in shock and her jaw dropped slightly. Wow. She had thought Taylor had been exaggerating about how bad things were between the two, but it turned out that Taylor had been underestimating the situation.

David felt someone hit him on the back of the head. "What was that for?"

"For being a complete dumb stupid ass! Colby would never kill you, God, you're his best friend. He'd take a bullet for you – and don't even say that he wouldn't because I know he would! Granted, if he found out about last night, you could have a black eye or, no! He wouldn't even do that! Have you not seen how guilty he is about all this crap? Seriously, how many times has me, Taylor, or Reeves lectured the **both** of you on this. Colby feeling guilty, you feeling angry and projecting it onto Colby, making him feel more guilty! It is a vicious circle my friend!"

"I can see why Taylor and you get along." A pen connected wit the back of his head. "You know, I could get you done on assaulting a federal agent."

Charlotte turned at him and flashed him her most innocent and sweet smile. "You know, I could just tell Colby about last night, and you'll be stuck on desk duty as you won't have the use of your leg."

**But there's no room**

**No space to rent in this town**

It was another three hours before the pair got anything. They had talked about anything during that time, David had even learnt more about Jo. Now that he thought of it, he had heard Colby mention her name once or twice, but he had never questioned his friend on who she was, or looked long enough to see the pain on Colby's face. Jo sounded like a brilliant person.

"Holy shit." He'd learned, from the stories that Charlotte had told him about her, Colby, Taylor and occasionally Jo, that when Charlotte swore, it was not a good thing. Nowhere near it. In fact, if Charlotte swore – with that tone of voice at least – it meant something bad. "That... Shit." A guy was standing outside of the house they were watching, but he did not match the sketch they had been given. Charlotte obviously recognised him. She sounded almost scared.

And if there was one thing he had learnt about Charlotte in the last few days, is that it was very rare to see her scared.

"Who is he Charlotte?"

A/N: Cliffhangers. Don't you just LOVE them :D


	11. Barely surviving has become my purpose

_A/N: My inspiration comes and goes I think, and I just suddenly got the inspiration to write in the middle of music. Not the best time, I'll tell you that! I promise I will update 'Hold on, Hold tight' soon, but as I said earlier, comes and goes. Anyway; the full-ish backstory plan thing will be coming to an end in the next few chapters! Yep, you heard right. This chapter HINTS at it, the next just lays it all out there. There will be swearing, ect in this, so if you don't like it; why the **** are you reading this story? It's Charlotte; she swears.  
Disclaimer: I own Charlotte, Taylor, and any other OC's you see in this! (There are a few..)_

**How long have I been in this storm?**  
** So overwhelmed by the ocean's shapeless form**

Charlotte didn't answer. Her eyes fixed were fixed on the so far unnamed man. David had to admit, he was getting worried and was torn between staying with her or arresting the guy (he freaked Charlotte out so he had to be a bad guy). He was even tempted to call Colby. "Charlotte, tell me how you know this guy."

Their guy had noticed them by now, a fact which went unnoticed by both Charlotte and David.

Charlotte was terrified and angry. She could feel tears in her eyes and didn't do anything to stop them. This guy hadn't done a thing to her – physically – but mentally he had damn near destroyed her. She quickly turned to David. This was all going to go to hell soon, and she had to have him ready to deal with the aftermath.

"Dave. You need to talk to Colby – only Colby. He's the only one that can explain this... Don wouldn't know, too classified. Tell him Charlotte said it was Declan Stewart. If he goes pale, make sure he sits down, okay then-" A knock on the window made her flinch. Some investigators they were! Her worst nightmare was standing outside the car with a gun. "Shit... Call him. David, whatever you do, promise me you will not let him get you-"

"Wh-" The door was yanked open before David could ask what the hell was going on. A gun went off and he suddenly couldn't move. The guy – whoever he was – had Charlotte by the neck, a gun pressed to her head. He tried to get up and save her but whenever he even breathed the pain nearly passed out.

"C-Char-" His voice and strength grew weaker. It didn't take a genius like Charlie to know that being shot close range wasn't good for you and that if he passed out, his chances of survival would drop to next to nothing. He fought the darkness, but a few seconds after Charlotte had gone out of view (he could hear her screaming though) he fell unconscious.

**Waters getting harder to tread,  
With these waves crashing over my head...  
**

"Colby.. Not that I don't enjoy your company, but shouldn't you be.. ya know, working to murder the guys who shot me?" Taylor smirked. She had woken up about 5 minutes ago to find Colby sitting in the chair next to her bed reading to her. She had been to tired to even lift up a book before, and not wanting to ask, she'd kept quiet. But he'd noticed. And he knew how much feeling weak sucked. So he'd offered. She'd expected him to stop after she'd fell into the lure of the drugs, but he'd carried on. Colby was a great friend, but even she knew that he had other priorities.

"Don's given me the day-" The shrill ringing of his cell phone interrupted him. "Crap." He cursed as he stood up, placing the book on the table beside her bed.

"What?"

"He said he'd only ring with an emergency." And with that, Colby answered.

"Yeah Don?" Colby answered nervously. He hoped to God that this was Don asking him to come into the office to do nothing but paperwork, but that nagging feeling in his gut told him otherwise.

"_We have a problem." _

"Gee, really? I guessed that Don." Taylor shook her head at her friends humour. She knew that he was only bitterly sarcastic when he was afraid or worried – which she found happened a lot when dealing with kidnappings or women with the name Charlotte Greene. She just hoped that Don knew what Colby was doing. Colby had also started to pace – another give-away. He was obviously scared at... well, whatever this was.

"_Colby... Does the name Declan Stewart mean anything to you." _Taylor noticed the fear immediately rush into Colby's face. He staggered back and grabbed hold of the bed. She could see how pale he had became to. What the hell did you say to him Don? She had never – ever – seen Colby this afraid, not even in the nightmares. Something had him seriously spooked.

"W-Why?"

**If I could just see you**  
** Everything would be all right**

** If I'd see you**  
** This darkness would turn to light**

Don could hear the fear held in Colby's voice. His friend sounded so afraid, fragile, so broken. It worried him even more. He knew that the next news he delivered had the potential to destroy Colby. It was obvious to anyone that him and Charlotte had a complicated past, and, according to David, Declan Stewart had something to do with that (and there was something about sitting down in his agents mumbles, but Don had paid it not attention. He wished he had, considering Colby's reacting).

"He has Greene."

_"What?"_ Colby's voice sounded deadly yet terrified at the same time. He sounded as if he could kill someone or be killed at the same time. It was a side to his agent he had never seen before, and he wondered if he had been right – had Colby really seen too much? It wouldn't surprise him. A great deal of his agents file had been classified. Starting at the age of 15, there had been areas that had been classified. Why on earth a 15 year old's files would be classified was beyond him, but he recalled overhearing something about Colby's father dying when Colby was that age. Also, another part from a few years later, the name Josephine had appeared later. It was a name he recalled Dwayne Carter and Lancer mentioning, but for some reason, he had never pushed Colby on it. It was times like these that he'd wished he had.

"David said he has her.." There was a short pause, as if Colby was thinking over what he would say next.

_"Where's David?" _Don really didn't want to answer that. He was glad that he had sent Megan with the ambulance – Colby would not react well to this, and to have two professionally trained psychologist's around him would be a bonus.

"He's been shot."

**I know you didn't bring me out here to drown,  
**

Colby felt his eyes widen and the fear grow. Memories of what Declan had done to him were threatening to surface and, for once, he couldn't stop them. He was shaking and struggling to remain standing up. And now David was hurt. He wished to God that he hadn't of taken today off to guard Taylor. He should've been with them. If he'd of been there, this might not have happened.

Taylor was looking at him and realised that now would be a good time to step in. "Colby, pass me the phone now."

He did so without speaking and practically collapsed into the chair, staring of into space. She began to wonder if he was actually here – mentally – because that glazed over and outright terrified look in his eyes said otherwise. She didn't know the details of what Declan had done, but she could access the case files later. All she knew was that he had hurt Colby in ways that could only be described as torture.

"Don, what the hell have you just said to him? I'm pretty sure he's going into shock! You couldn't have said this to his face instead?" She was angry, and extremely curious. There were very few things that could make Colby completely shut down, and all of them were things that you just wouldn't talk about over the phone.

"Greene has been kidnapped, David's been shot, and I need to know who the hell Declan Stewart-" Shit. That... Shit! "is?" She could understand why Colby had freaked out earlier. She was pretty close to it and she hadn't been around. She also knew that no one from LA (other than her) knew about his past, which explains why Don didn't deal with it the way she or Charlotte would have. The thought of Charlotte brought up a new fear into her. Declan had Charlotte. Declan was a twisted, sadistic psychopath – and she couldn't do anything to help her friend.

"Shit. You sure it's him?" She was praying that he'd say he made a mistake.

"David said Charlotte told him to ask Colby about it- Garcia, what the hell is going on?" She swallowed. Don sounded angry. Really angry. He hadn't sounded this angry after the argument with Charlotte (block out what's happening to her, just block it out!). She didn't know how he'd react after she told him the whole truth.

"This isn't a conversation I can have over the phone, get Megan here to watch Colby, then we'll talk."

"Is it bad? Should I be worried?"

"Bad? Understatement of the century-" Taylor looked at Colby. He hadn't moved since she had started speaking. She sighed and continued to talk to Don. "Worried? Definitely." She sighed. She had been worried about Colby earlier. Now? She was downright terrified about his state of mind. His three best friends: her, Charlotte, and David. She was recovering from being shot, David... well, she had no clue about how David was, and Charlotte was in the hands of a psychopath that had inflicted a lot of pain on Colby. "How long till you can get here?"

"10 minutes." Was the reply. She knew for a fact it would be more if he didn't break the speed-limit, but she wasn't complaining.

"Okay, come to my room. Bye." And with that, she hung up.

"Colby? Come here." He did so, without a sound he sat on the edge of her bed. It was rare to see him this closed off yet this emotional. Usually, whenever he became closed off, it was impossible for her to understand what was going through his mind. Even more than usual. "Listen, we're gonna have to tell them about Jo. You realize that right? We have to find Charlotte." She sat up, blocking out the pull on her stitches, and grabbed his hand. The physical contact seemed to spark a reaction in him, as he suddenly inhaled deeply and looked at her. So many emotions were portrayed in that look, all of them crystal clear. It almost scared her...

"I know... But they'll stop trusting me altogether. If they find out I've kept things from them..." Colby was sure that his mouth had a mind of his own. What the hell was he doing? He should be planning someone's murder (Declan's) and not sitting here explaining his fears to a woman with a degree in psychology! "We have to find her..."

"Colby, if anything, this will make them understand why you took the job in the first place. The Chinese killed your father and fiancée – yes, I looked at the case files, shoot me. And yes, I realize the irony of what I've just said." A small smile played on his face for less than a second. It was something. "And we will find her. They found you right?" She knew she was treading on dangerous ground. Colby was unstable at the moment (hell, so was she) and that this subject wasn't easy for him. It was like walking over a mine field. One wrong move, and you may as well forget you're original mission and get the hell outta there before you die. Well, without the dying and running for your life part, the situations were very similar.

"Yeah, but... You didn't see me then..." He trailed off.

Taylor sighed and squeezed his hand once more. "No, but I can imagine. But we'll find her. You didn't have me then, now you've got me, Don, Megan, and a bunch of weird yet wonderful math geeks." He smiled at that – not a real, completely happy smile, but a smile of hope. They'd get her back, even if they did have to fight tooth and nail to do so.

**So why am I ten-feet under and upside down?**

Don was driving like a mad man. He knew that he needed to get to the hospital for many reasons. Taylor and Colby's reactions worried him, and David, although he had only been hit in the shoulder and was not in critical condition, was a major source of worry and concern from him. He had rang Megan and told her to go to Taylor's room but ask the nurse to call her with news on David first.

Declan Stewart. He had heard the name before, but he just couldn't pin it down. He knew that he'd have to make the call to CID soon and explain the situation to them, which meant more inter-agent co-op. He and Charlotte hadn't gotten along at first, but he knew that deep down, under that tough exterior, was a woman that he would easily become friends with. She was like Colby. At first, he and David hadn't gotten along, but now they were best friends. He was also deeply worried about her. Judging on the reactions from is two team-mates, whoever had her caused them both to become scared. In Colby's case, it was enough for him to basically shut down. He'd never heard his friend so frightened, not even when Colby had woken up in the hospital, asking if what he saw was real. Those few moments would be burnt into him forever, the guilt that he had felt at that one word had threatened to overwhelm him and he thanked God that he had gotten his friend off that ship in time. He could've came sooner, but they'd still came.

**Barely surviving has become my purpose**  
** Because I'm so used to living underneath the surface**

_A./N: Hope you like! :D  
Re-uploaded: 5 minutes after original post!_


	12. The experts at the fall

**A/N: Sorry for not updating! I had a bad/good week (read message) but I got round to updating. Sorry if it is bad, I wrote it with sore legs/backs and with the sole intention of clearing my mind!**

**Disclaimer: Own NADA! Ya' hear me? Nothin. Oh! Wait! Hold on a second; I do own the evil guy, Charlotte and Taylor. Ever so proud of myself for that one! :D  
**

**A small message to those affected by the Christchurch earthquake: You're in my thoughts:) My two best friends live there and I really hope they are okay :'(  
**

**Song: Greg Laswell, it comes and goes (in waves) - and no! Don't own that either. Darn.  
**

Charlotte was scared. She wanted to be with Colby – safe. She knew that she was in the hands of a psychopath, and that David had been shot. Colby would be freaking out in a very silent way when he found out. And her?

She wasn't sure if she would make it out of this alive.

Colby had barely made it out last time – four long months of torture does things to a person, and definitely not good things. The doctors had outright refused to disclose some of his injuries, stating that it was due to 'patient confidentiality' – which made her think about it, and the conclusions that she came to scared her. He had been destroyed both physically and mentally and it had taken them months to get him back to a 'normal' state of mind. She knew what had happened still affected him, but it was nowhere near as bad as it had been then. But this? Two of their friends had died, and it was because of this man? If he could even be called a man - it was a debatable subject. She hated him more than words could describe, and, if she hadn't of been tied to a rusty metal chair in the middle of a large warehouse (undoubtedly in the middle of nowhere - the guy was not an idiot), she would have ripped his head of his shoulders herself.

"Come on Charlotte, I know you're awake." Slowly, she opened her eyes, placing a defiant and strong mask over her features. Never show weakness in front of the enemy was her main rule, only coming second to not dying, - and fear was a weakness in her eyes.

"Ah, she's awake. How are you doing?" He actually sounded as though he cared. God, what she would do to rip his head off his shoulders.

"Well, other than being in the company of a sick bastard, fine, you?" Her voice was sharp and laced with sarcasm. It was another trait her and Colby shared – they would both be sarcastic in any dark situation; and this was in her top ten of dark situations.

"You bitch!" A hard slap connected with her face. She bit her lip and winced.

"Why'd you take me?" She asked, a glint of defiance shining in her eyes as she glared darkly at him, a frown playing on her face, and an expression that could only be described as hatred. It was times like these that she thanked god for being able to keep up a façade.

"Because, Colby will come running." Her mask slipped for a few seconds because she knew that was true.

And it scared her.

**This one's for the lonely, the one's that seek and find; only to be let down, time after time.**

"Colby, Don will be here soon, you're gonna have to fill me in on the details if you want me to explain." She doubted Colby would be able to go through this. With her maybe, because she already knew parts, but Don? He knew nothing of Colby's past and would be shocked. It was probably that one emotion that Colby hated; which was why she was giving him a get out.

"Erm.. Yeah, okay." He sighed, his eyes dropping to the floor. "My dad was working undercover for the Chinese, when he was killed. We had circumstantial evidence that Lancer had something to do with it; but not enough. So no action was taken and more undercover's were thrown in." He paused for a few seconds. "I'd found some evidence, just before I proposed to Jo. It'd been my dads. They shot Jo to keep me quiet- but they never knew what I looked like at the time, or my real name. They thought I was Alan Johnson, and Jo was Katie Bell. That's why I could go undercover using my real name."

"Go on." Taylor whispered softly.

"Declan-" Again, a look of fear was visible on Colby's face. "He had been Jo's ex before she'd moved. He'd stalked her, tried to attack her." He was squeezing the edge of the bed now, this was obviously something very hard for him to talk about. Both fear and anger were visible on his face. "After her father died, they moved. It was easier for them. He followed. I scared him away." He sighed and closed his eyes. "3 years into my service, I was 22 I think... Declan ambushed us. We weren't serving. Me and Charlotte were on medical leave for getting shot." He swallowed nervously. "He kidnapped me, he thought it was my fault that Jo was killed..."

"How long Colby?" Taylor didn't need to ask what he had done to him. She didn't' want to know; and she had a pretty good guess.

"4 months. I think. It's a blur really." That made her feel sick.

"Colby, do you want to be here when I tell Don and Megan." He shook his head slowly. The shake was barely visible. She could see tears in his eyes and she knew that he couldn't go through explaining it again. "Go get some air, I'll text you when we're done."

**This ones for the torn down; the experts at the fall.  
****Come on friends get up now, you're not alone at all.**

Don listened to Taylor intently. His mind was reeling from shock. Colby had been engaged – and had lost his fiancée – and none of them had knew about it?

What Taylor had said next brought him close to being physically sick.

"Did he... Did he hurt Colby?" Megan asked. It was a stupid question – and it was probably the reason that Colby was not in the room. She was hoping that he hadn't.

"He hasn't told me directly, but... I've seen the scars, and I think that's where they're from." She informed them. Yes; she had seen the scars. They'd brought her to tears at the time (granted Colby was in a coma at the time too).

"Does David know?" Don asked, finally having the strength to open his mouth. He and Megan had a bad reaction to the revelations, god knows what David would be like. The two were best friends – even if they were going through a 'rough patch' at the moment. When David discovered Colby's past with the Chinese – especially the part about Jo – he would understand why Colby had taken the undercover assignment, and probably forgive his friend altogether. Then again; considering recent events, he wouldn't be surprised if the two hadn't already done so.

"I don't know. Charlotte-" A look of worry passed over her face. "We don't know how much she told him before... Plus, I think Colby would want to explain it to him, there's already enough trust issues between the pair of them to keep a therapists office running on just them for a year..." She shook her head at what she had just said, and, if the circumstances had been different, she would have smiled fondly at the memory. "I make inappropriate jokes when I'm worried, and I'm on morphine, and my best friend's been kidnapped. Sorry."

"We'll find her you know. I've known her for what, a few days, and I already know that she's strong, one of the strongest people I know, just like Colby." Taylor nodded at that. It was true. In her time serving, and even before that, she'd never met a pair as strong or as close as Colby and Charlotte; although she hadn't known for a while just how strong and close they were. "So, we got any leads?"

**And this part was for her, and this part was for her, and this part was for her; **  
**Does she even remember?**** It comes and goes in waves, I..**

Colby paced through the hallways nervously. The emotions were clouding his thinking and there was no way he would be able to find Charlotte in this state of mind. Every time he even blinked memories began to overwhelm him. He really didn't want to remember. It was a time in his life that he didn't want to revisit, but Charlotte's life depended on him doing exactly that. If he didn't find her in time... He didn't even want to think about what would happen to her.

And then there was David.

His partner and best friend - or whatever they were now. Colby couldn't even grasp the concept of David dying in the operating theatre. It would be his fault - if he had gone in that morning. Granted, he had been on 'protective detail' and he was already injured (he'd left the sling at home, it was impossible too shoot a gun with it,) but it would've been him that was with the maniac, not Charlotte.

**This ones for the faithless, the ones that are surprised.  
They're only where they are now; regardless of their fight.**

**A/N: Crappy place to leave it. Sorry!**


	13. Living proof that the camera's lying

**A/N: Wow. I am ashamed of how long the wait has been. Inspiration hit me when I was writing "Hold on, Hold tight" (a longer wait for that sorry!) and then my laptop broke, so I was unable to continue, I am currently on my old one so forgive any mistakes as the spell-checker on this is quite strange... I've also had quite a bad few weeks, writer's block, several hospital trips, and I lost a family member. I haven't had the time to update until now (Again, really sorry!) I hope you enjoy another filler chapter! **

**Disclaimer: Own nothing other than my OC's.  
Song: Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol.**

Colby sat in David's room, nervously tapping the edge of his chair. He wanted David to wake up, but he didn't want to have to tell him everything. It wasn't that he didn't trust David – it was far from it. He didn't want David to think differently of him. David might not trust him (if he trusted him now that was, a fact which Colby was quite unsure of) after discovering about his past. He might think that Colby didn't trust him enough to tell him, which he did, but it would've meant risking his undercover operation, and, frankly, it was too hard for him to talk about. He hadn't even told Taylor sober (the first time anyway) and she had also been drunk at the time, he wasn't even sure if she remembered it herself.

He came to the conclusion that he really didn't want to do this.

David was struggling to open his eyes. He was aware that he was in hospital (the smell and constant beeping of machines brought him to that conclusion) and that he was in a bed, not visiting someone. David didn't know how he had gotten there, nor why he was there. Just that he was there.

He also knew that there was someone else in the room. He could hear the panicked breathing and the tapping on the floor (whoever it was, they were nervous). Still struggling, he forced his heavy eyes open and surveyed his surroundings.

Definitely in a hospital, he thought with a quiet groan. The noise caught the attention of the other unnamed occupant of the room. "David? Dave, you hear me man?" David could only nod. He had a small headache, and still felt extremely drowsy. "You okay?"

Colby nearly kicked himself. Obviously his friend wasn't okay. David nodded again, this time daring to speak. "What happened?"

"You were shot by someone called Declan Stewart." David heard something akin to fear – which was something he had never been able to associate with his partner before (not unless it involved needles, he recalled from the incident a few days ago). "What's the last thing you remember?"

"I was talking to Charlotte in the car... and then she freaked out..." Colby could see the sudden fear and shock that flooded his friends face. "Shit! Declan, whoever he was, took her. Do you have her? Is she okay?"

Colby shook his head. "He's still got her."

"Who is this guy anyway?" Colby bit his lip nervously before taking a deep breath. "Colby?"

"Charlotte had a twin sister called Josephine, but everyone called her Jo... The three of us were best friends when they moved to Idaho when I was... 13, 12, I can't remember. Me and Jo started dating when we were 15, just after my father was killed." David looked shocked. In reality, he had already heard this story before, and half of the emotions on his face were actually fake, but he **was **shocked that Colby was actually telling him this. His friend was hardly ever open about his past, to anyone, so this was a new experience for David and one that he would not throw away easily. Colby was staring at the ground as he continued. "Dad was investigating the Chinese when he was killed. Lancer killed him, but they didn't have solid proof. And anyone that did, was killed or had someone close to them killed..." Colby's eyes were clouded with pain as he paused, seemingly lost in the memories of that day. David wished more than anything that he could comfort his friend in some way, but with his arm in a sling and his body refusing to respond in anyway (no doubt due to the painkillers) he was unable to.

"Declan had been Jo's ex before she moved. He hadn't been the best guy, at all. He'd attacked Charlotte before," Any emotions of David's face were now 100% real. "But she doesn't remember, amnesia from the concussion. Jo remembered and told me about it one night when she'd stole her mums wine..." There was a small wistful smile on Colby's face that lasted for a few precious seconds, before it faded again and the pained look returned. David hated seeing his friend like this, and it proved to him even more that Colby was able to hide a lot of his emotions. In fact, David was quite sure that this was the most emotional he had ever seen Colby. "He came again, but I fought with him and he left." David knew what was coming next; the most painful part of the story.

"Me and Jo got engaged, we were young, but I loved her. I'd found evidence that could've proved Lancer was a traitor, but I didn't realise at the time... We were going home, all four of us – Charlotte's ex lived there too – were going to go out that night and celebrate something, and out of nowhere there was shot. Jo..." There were small tears on Colby's face now, "She just looked at me, I saw blood, and I... About 5 minutes later, Charlotte was there and then I just... I don't know, I can't remember. It was bad..."

"Colby," David spoke for the first time, his voice quiet and shocked. "You don't have to carry on, if you don't want to." Colby almost sighed in relief. David didn't sound angry, or betrayed, just caring and sympathetic. He usually hated the sympathy and the pity, but this time it felt different. He didn't know why, it just did.

"No, the case... You.. You need to know. You got shot because of it, you deserve to." It was the first time he had ever seen Colby like this, and frankly, it scared him. He nodded and slowly lifted his uninjured arm and placed it on his friends shoulder (keeping silent about the amount of effort it took; he really did hate feeling this weak) as an attempt to comfort his friend. He really couldn't do much, but he knew that this helped. "Declan blamed me for her death," Colby wiped the tears from his eyes while speaking, "And he kidnapped me." This was news to David, and he suddenly felt more ready to kill Declan with his bare hands (not that he hadn't been earlier).

"He had me for 4 months. I think." Oh god. David couldn't believe the words coming out of Colby's mouth. He'd seen scars, but he'd always assumed that they were from the explosion Colby, Carter and Taylor had been involved in. He felt sick now.

"Did he... Did he hurt you?" Colby could hear the fear and worry in his voice, it'd been so long since he'd heard it that he almost didn't recognise it.

He nodded. It was all he could do, as it seemed that his voice had deserted him. "I'm so sorry man, you didn't deserve any of that, no one does." Colby shook his head.

"Don't say sorry Dave, it wasn't your fault. None of this was." David guessed that was what Colby hated; the sorry and the pity. If there was one thing that he knew about Colby Granger, it was that he hated being the centre of attention, he hated pity and that he hated talking about his past (the last one was very recently learnt).

"We're going to find her Colby, alive. I promise you." David prayed that he wouldn't have to break this promise.

**We'll do it all, everything, on our own.**

**We don't need, anything, or anyone.**

Charlie sat at his computer, trying to find anything he can on Declan. So far his search was unsuccessful, and he was waiting for a search to come back on one of his known alias'.

A beeping sound two minutes later told him that the search was successful.

**If I lay here, if I just lay here, would you lie with me and just forget the world?  
I don't quite know, how to say, how I feel. Those three words are said too much; they're not enough.  
If I lay here, if I just lay here, would you lie with me and just forget the world?  
Forget what we're told, before we get too old. Show me our garden that's bursting into life. **

"Don! I got something, Don!" Charlie practically ran through the FBI office, yelling for his brother. Thankfully, there were very few people in the office due to the time (just after midnight, they'd consumed a lot of coffee in the past few hours) and he didn't run into anyone – or, surprisingly, anything.

Don was talking to two of Charlotte's team members. They'd been investigating a separate case at the time and had given it to another team when they'd heard of their team leaders abduction. The three of them looked up to see the math geek reach them, slightly out of breath, but looking excited.

"I think I've found her!"

**Let's waste time, chasing cars...**

**A/N: Could I have continued? Nope. Cliffhangers are quite enjoyable, plus I have 5 minutes left on the computer. I know the first bit is pretty much repeating the last few chapters, but I felt it was necessary to include that scene as it was pretty much the re-birth of the Colby/David friendship. Hope you all enjoyed! **


	14. You found me

_A/N: Wow! Again, I am so sorry. Writers block – not fun. Hope you all like this chapter, not my best to say the least, but still. Thank you everyone for reviewing and there will be more of the team soon!  
Disclaimer: If I owned numb3rs, there **would **be a season seven.. Is there? No. So I don't :( I only own Charlotte and Taylor (and Declan, but no one wants to hear about him, do they?)  
Warning: Figured I should put this in, just in case; there is one or two swear words in this. If you don't like, skip the first two parts. _

Colby stood outside a large warehouse. There were two entrances visible, but he was sure that there was at least one more. Declan would have some sort of exit strategy – Colby was sure of it and was ready to react. Charlotte would probably kill him for this. She would have realised that she was being used as bait by now, Declan would have told her to hurt her, make her feel guilty or angry. She would expect him to go straight to the office, tell them the location and get a SWAT team out there. The official way. He knew that he should have done that – it made more sense. But he had texted the location to Don – his boss would be on his way, but not before Charlotte was out and safe.

Declan had called him about an hour ago, while he was with David (thankfully David had fallen asleep) and had demanded that either Colby gives himself to him, or Charlotte would die. He was given the location and time before he was hung up on.

Colby hadn't needed to think about it. Charlotte's safety was more important that his; Jo would've hated him if he let anything happen to her.

He walked towards the door slowly, trying to put a mask of calmness onto his face.

* * *

Charlotte was angry; at herself for letting Declan abduct her, at him for using her as bait. At everything really. And god, she would be furious if Colby actually took the bait.. She sighed and looked at the ground. There was a thin trickle of blood from where Declan had hit her with a gun to 'shut her up'. Her muscles tensed up as the door was slowly pushed open; a mask placed over her face, hiding her true panic.

Then she saw who it was. He had taken the bait.

"What the fuck! Get out of here!" She yelled. Her training had left her momentarily; she forgot that Declan could've heard her. But she knew Colby was most likely alone, she hadn't heard any cars pull up (which begged the question; how in hell did Colby get here?) so she seriously doubted backup.

"There's a bomb!" Colby froze, his eyes never moving from Charlotte.

"Where?" He mimed, starting to slowly walk over to her, mindful of trip wires or pressure pads he could accidentally step on if he moved to fast.

"I don't know, but I recognised the device before. I didn't see where he put it, unconscious." She really hated admitting that.

Colby nodded, finally reaching her. He knelt behind her and started undoing the bonds that restricted her to the chair. "Once these are undone, I want you to get outside as fast as you can. Don should be here..." He paused for a second, hearing the sound of sirens growing closer. "In under a minute. Get a bomb squad here, and get checked out." She started to interrupt him as he moved onto her other hand.

"What about-"

"Me? I'm going to be right behind you, just get out first. I need to make sure Declan is here first."

Charlotte sighed. She really didn't like this plan, at all; but she knew that it was the most sensible one. If Declan was watching, it would make more sense to get her out. Colby was his target – he wouldn't risk them both getting away. Declan, though, was unstable. They couldn't understand what his next move would be. Colby was the one that had spent the most time with the unstable side of Declan, as Charlotte could barely remember that area of her childhood (to this day, she still didn't know why,) so he would understand the man better. Charlotte was also unarmed and injured. She knew herself that she would need medical attention, nothing serious, but she knew about the risks of getting hit on the head and she wasn't prepared to take the risk.

"Fine, but get out fast." She replied just as Colby freed her other hand. She stood up slowly, rubbing her bruised wrists gently. She turned to Colby, dropping her masks and trying not to cry. She was too tired to be brave, she just wanted this over and all three of them safe. She quickly embraced him in a hug which he returned. "Love you Colby."

He didn't want her to think that this would be the last time they would see each other; he knew that it might be, but he didn't want to admit it. "Love you too Charlie." He used her childhood nickname for the first time in years, and tried his best to ignore the fact that it brought tears her eyes. He quickly wiped away one as the pulled apart. "Now, run. Don'll be here soon." She nodded, turning and racing out of the warehouse...

* * *

Don pulled up outside the warehouse, wincing at the screech the tyres made in protest. He was furious at Colby. What the hell did he think he was doing? Going after Declan alone, no plan? Don had known the exact place that Charlotte had been from Charlie when he'd received the text from Colby, and at this point all he could think about was finding Colby dead in the freighter. He just hoped that history wouldn't repeat itself.

Seconds after he got out of the car Charlotte burst through the doors. He and Megan both rushed over to her, seeing the blood on her head and thinking the worst.

"Charlotte? Where's Colby? Are you okay?" Don started, grabbing her shaking hands to gain her attention. She turned to him, Don only just noticing the tear tracks running down her face.

"In there. There's a bomb. And yes, I am. Just help him ple-" She was cut short by a world-shattering explosion from behind them. Don pushed her to the floor along with him, but she didn't stay down for long. Don had gotten up just as fast as her, grabbing her arms to stop her from running into the burning building.

"COLBY!"


	15. Human after all

_Warning: Pain, blood, swearing. All the normal stuff to be honest._

Charlotte's screams continued as the flames engulfed the warehouse. The warehouse that Colby was in. She couldn't even begin to consider that Colby had died in there; it was too hard to imagine life without Colby. She fought strongly against the people holding her back; she had to get in there! Why were they all standing around? Why was nobody even trying to help him? The flames were still going strong, but it seemed as though somebody was finally seeing sense, as a group of people suddenly starting running around the warehouse in search for the back entrance – the front too damaged to even consider. She stopped struggling against Don, turning to him in a swift movement and giving him a pleading look.

Don nearly folded at that. He still had a gentle hold on her arms (it was probably all that was keeping her upright, or from running into the burning building herself) but he could feel her shaking trembling under his hands. The cut on her head had started to bleed heavily, making one side of her face streaked with crimson red blood. The dirt and dust from the explosion covered the rest, only a few streaks of tears breaking through this. All in all, she looked horrible. "Please, let me help." She pleaded, her voice sounding as bad as she looked.

He slowly shook his head. "These guys are trained Cha-"

"I'm more trained that half of them!" She sounded out of breath, like even yelling at him exhausted her.

"Charlotte, you're bleeding. These guys are good, they'll do their best to find him." Don doubted himself. She could hear it in his voice. She knew that there was little chance of Colby surviving an explosion like that – but he was Colby Granger, a fact that made her ignore logic and reason. He had to be okay. He just had to be...

A loud yell from the other side of the warehouse startled them. "**We have him!**" She broke free from him in seconds, taking advantage of his shock, and sprinted towards the voice. It was barely seconds later when he and Megan – who had been standing quietly somewhere, most likely shocked by the explosion – followed.

**In any other world, you could tell the difference.**

**And let it all unfold, into broken remnants.**

**Smile like you mean it; and let yourself let go...**

Colby could only feel pain. The world around him barely registered, only blurred images that he was seeing at least two sets off. He could hear faint noises, but nothing would register properly over the head splitting ringing in his ears – a result of whatever had put him in this situation in the first place. Hands began to grab at him, pulling him down to the floor. He started to panic, and tried feebly to fight them off. A voice penetrated through the ringing; "Colby! Calm down, you're hurt." Something was telling him that she was hurt too – he could hear the pain in her voice, he knew her too well to not notice it, even in his barely lucid state.

"What the hell!" Don's voice followed as the ringing died down, the rest of the voices clearer and not just faint sounds. He almost wished the ringing were back, the canopy of voices almost too much for him to handle. The sirens only added to his pain. He closed his eyes, willing to fall asleep so that he could be in peace and quiet.

"Don't you dare fall asleep on me!" Charlotte yelled, shaking his shoulder gently. Colby only groaned as the pain increased – seems like he'd hurt his shoulder as well as his head.

Charlotte's hand flew away from his shoulder in seconds, a look of guilt and fear taking over her face. She didn't mean to hurt him – after all, this had only happened because he had come to help her. She had just left him behind, running out of the warehouse in fear, not even considering how terrified Colby would have been. What had she done? These thoughts were still swimming around her head when Megan and Don helped her to her feet as the paramedics surrounded her and Colby. She felt claustrophobic as people pushed past her in an effort to save a building that she would rather have burnt down. Don and the paramedic noticed this and slowly pulled her away into an area with much less people. The paramedic helped her put an oxygen mask over her face and started to speak to her in slow, calming tones. It wasn't working at all. How could it? She'd hurt Colby; done the one thing that she had sworn never to do.

"Charlotte," Don began gently. He wasn't good at this stuff; it was Megan's forte. Unfortunately though, he had sent her with Colby, not expecting Charlotte to have resisted the effect of the medicine that she'd been injected with (hell, she had looked as though she'd barely noticed the anti-anxiety meds being put into her system). "Come on, just breathe with me. It's going to be okay, don't worry." She nodded and followed along, although she didn't believe him; how could it be okay?

**Cos' it's all in the hands of a bitter, bitter man;  
Say goodbye, to the world you thought you lived in.  
Take a bow, play the part, of a lonely, lonely heart.  
Say goodbye, to the world you thought you lived in.**

Don nervously entered David's room. The nurse had informed him that his agent had been asleep since just before the 'hottie' (Don had forced himself not to roll his eyes at that) had left. This probably meant that David had no idea that Charlotte had been found, that Colby was seriously injured (as far as they knew).

He stopped in his tracks when he saw Taylor there. Now he had to break the news to both of them.

"Hey Don, any news?" David asked, his eyes on his boss. Taylor spun around in her wheelchair, taking in the expression on Don's face. Fuck...

"Erm..." He hesitated. "Yeah, we found them. " Them? What did you do Colby, Taylor wondered to herself as Don continued. "Charlotte got out okay, but she was pretty beaten up, but Colby – he'd gone in to get her out and we were his back up. We were late because Colby had texted us the location when he was already there, so by the time we got there, Charlotte was running out and then... The place went up in flames. Colby got out, but he was really hurt. He's in surgery now, that's all we know."

Taylor leaned back into the pillow she had placed behind her back, her mouth agape in shock. The shock soon wore off, and the anger began. "Tell me that bastard is dead." Her voice was filled with cold , controlled rage. David looked at her with a worried expression; he'd heard her angry, but never like this.

"They're still searching for his body. We don't know if he was still in there." Taylor nodded.

"How's Charlotte?" David asked, worried for his... whatever they were. He cared for her a lot; more than he should to be honest (considering who he was talking about).

"She has a head wound, and a couple of bruises-" that alone filled David with rage that he could only assume was similar to what Taylor had felt/. That, mixed with the worry and fear over his best friends life, could not lead to anything good. "And she's really shaken up, but I think she'll be okay."

**I try to live alone, but lonely is so lonely alone.  
So human as I am.; I had to give up my defences.  
So I smiled and tried to mean it; to make myself let go.**

To say Charlotte was scared was an understatement. She was terrified. What if Declan hadn't been in the warehouse and came back to get her and Colby – and what about David and Taylor as well... Her eyes widened in realization – David! He had been shot when she was taken! "Oh god." She felt sick to her stomach. How could she forget about him?

"Charlotte?" Megan's voice questioned.

"David. Is he okay? He was shot." Megan frowned – Charlotte seemed far from okay.

"He's okay. He's just down the hall if you want to go see him. Ward E2, there's only him and another person in there, he shouldn't be too hard to find." She knew that the young woman would need to see David as proof that he was actually okay. Charlotte smiled weakly in thanks and was about to set off towards David's room when a doctor called out Colby's name.

"Is he okay?" The doctor tried to look reassuring, but failed horribly.

"Mr Granger suffered some burns on his left shoulder, but they should heal up with minimal scarring." Charlotte winced in guilt – she had done nothing to help him when she had grabbed his shoulder. "We have managed to get the internal bleeding under control as well." It all seemed good so far. "However, he is suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation. When we brought him in he was having serious difficulty breathing, so we have placed him on a ventilator. That, coupled with the concussion, could mean brain damage to some extent. We are keeping him sedated for now, but when we take him off it we will know for sure."

**Cos' it's all in the hands of a bitter, bitter man.  
Say goodbye to the world you thought you lived in. **

Charlotte nodded numbly, not even noticing Don walking in with Taylor being pushed in front of him in a wheelchair. She didn't even notice the doctor leave, or Megan repeating the words to Don and Taylor.

She turned around and started to run, searching desperately for the ward Megan had told her of before. Something had to go right; David had to be okay. She didn't think she could stand the guilt of him being anything but. She reached the room she was looking for and pushed the door open, scanning the room for David. Charlotte didn't even realise that tears had started to make their way down her face.

"Charlotte?" She moved in the direction of the voice, letting a small sob escape her throat when she reached him. He seemed okay – but she knew for a fact that looks aren't always what they seem.

"Are you okay?" She asked him. David nearly smiled; she still looked beautiful even at her worst.

"Yeah, how's Colby?" He didn't want to ask, partially because he didn't really want to know what the answer was. Don had told him that Charlotte was shaken up, but he had not expected this at all.

"He- they said- He's really sick David." That was it. The dam broke and the tears streamed down her face, She couldn't control herself – and she hated feeling like this. He quickly sat up – and tried to pretend that the movement didn't hurt him at all – and gestured for her to walk over. She stumbled as she walked, tears blurring her vision. Once she was close enough he grabbed her hand and pulled her onto the bed, letting her lean against him. She buried her head in his neck and cried, only quieting down after what seemed like a decade, but in reality was only ten minutes. They stayed like that until she fell asleep, him following soon after. They stayed like that until morning, when an exhausted Don finally came to find her. He had smiled and walked away.

**Take a bow, play the part, of a lonely, lonely heart.  
Say goodbye, to the world you thought you lived in. **

A/N: Ewies. Not a fan of the last part of that at all. It'll have to do. Again, I am so sorry for the wait, but life's been all evil and stuff and I haven't had the time. Please forgive me?:)  
Song: Any other wolrd by Mika.  
Disclaimer: I do own Charlotte, Taylor, and any of the other OC's mentioned. I don't own numb3rs (or Colby) and I sadly never will. *sigh*


	16. Meet you on the other side

_**A/N: Good God, there is a lot of watching people in this chapter. It's almost scary…  
I have a few things to say here, so sorry in advance for the sheer size of this authors note. Firstly, if you spot any errors, please pm me, I wrote this at about three in the morning because my internet has broken and winter (especially pre-Christmas – who knew it could be so stressful?) gives me some weird mood that prevents me from sleeping like a normal human being, AND I also can't see very well because I have terrible eyesight and this whole page is blurred together, but I have put it through spell-check and grammar-check to be sure  
Also, I am really sorry about not updating this or 'Hold On, Hold Tight' or any of my other stories recently. I've had terrible few weeks that have really messed me up, not to mention my exams are coming up in less than a month and I've been freaking out quite a lot.**_

**Yes I understand th at every life must end. As we sit alone, I know someday we must go.**

An entire week had passed since the explosion and Colby had been off-sedation for two days, but he remained asleep. However, he had been taken off the ventilator and was breathing on his own quite well.

Declan Stewarts body had not been found in the warehouse so far, so they were all still in danger.

Both Charlotte and Taylor spent their time either arguing with nurses about visiting times (they always won) or sitting by Colby's bedside. They had refused to have him wake up alone. The entire team, including all the mathematicians, had visited, but none other than David had been as often as Taylor or Charlotte.

Charlotte stood at the door to Colby's room nervously. It was close to the anniversary of Jo's death, and coupled with the latest turn of events she had been feeling quite nervous and over-anxious lately. She had barely survived losing her sister all those years ago and to this day it still hurt, but Colby had pulled her through; she didn't think she could've made it without him, so how she'd survive if he were to die…

She shook the negative thoughts out of her head before walking into the room and taking a seat next to Colby.

"Still asleep?" Charlotte sighed, trying to sound normal, as though she wasn't in a hospital room talking to the unresponsive, still and bruised body of her best friend. "You lazy arse," Her attempts at joking were failing at best, but she didn't know what else to do. She had done emotional, she had done angry; there wasn't an emotion that she hadn't felt, and there wasn't anything that she had not tried to get him to wake up. "Planning on getting off said lazy arse anytime soon? David says the office is falling apart without you. Literally, there's no one to do the paperwork. Why couldn't you of been that nice when we worked together" She let the pause hang in the air, silently hoping that he would reply with some sarcastic comment. "Ignoring me? Fine, I'll destroy your eardrums with my insane volumes of music. I think all those…" She trailed off. "Ya, let's just listen to music hey?" Charlotte sighed, pulling out her iPod from her jacket and placing one earphone in Colby's ear and the other in hers. She pressed play and placed her hand on his. "Oh, you're bloody kidding. Had to be one of those songs that gets me going. You know, considering I'm an outstanding soldier, it's shocking that I'd cry at Pearl Jam, right?" She asked as 'Just Breathe' began to play.

**Oh, I'm a lucky man to count on both hands the ones I love; some folks just have one, yeah others, they've got none.**

**Stay with me, let's just breathe.**

Colby looked around, knowing that he'd only have to close his eyes for a few second before the scene would change. Sometimes he'd be there with his friends, either in the office or in his own hospital room, other times he'd be reliving memories he'd much rather forget, and sometimes Jo would be there and he could forget everything; why he was here, why he was seeing her of all people, everything. This wasn't one of them times; he was in the office, standing not so far behind David (who had been confined to desk duty). His friend looked like a kicked puppy, or something along those lines.

Megan wasn't that far away either, it looked like she'd been confined to desk duty too – he wasn't quite sure about Don's reasoning here – and she was watching David closely. He had to hand it to her, she was good at being subtle, but he was even better and he could spot her a mile away – if only she would actually hear him. She, like David, didn't look he best. She looked as though she hadn't had a proper night's sleep in days and the signs of worry and stress were obvious to anyone. He had to admit, he was quite worried about them both and he did want to tell them things because he knew that not waking up for at least a week could not be a good sign at all. He wanted them to know that he was truly sorry for what he had done, that the last thing he had wanted to do was to hurt them.

**Practiced all my sins, never gonna let me win. Under everything, just another human being.**

Taylor watched Charlotte from outside Colby's hospital room. She didn't doubt that Charlotte knew she was there; it was Charlotte after all. She wasn't sure how any of them were coping with this. She hadn't been on the team long enough to know everyone closely, but she knew from her conversations with Colby and the short time she had been with them, that their reactions to this were not normal. They were trying to carry on as normal – as though they were trying to copy what they had seen Colby doing on many occasions, but Taylor could see through the cracks, she knew that they needed their teammate back She needed him back, Charlotte needed him back.

Taylor wondered if Colby knew how much of an effect he had on people's lives. She had seen that he had been in a downward spiral before all of this had happened that he hadn't thought much of himself and was drowning in guilt over what he had done to his team and his past. She just hoped that if – when he woke up, he wouldn't be near rock bottom, that he would be okay (mentally) because she didn't know if any of them were strong enough to help him through this, especially now considering they all knew the full scale of how dark his past was. She knew that if Stewart hadn't reappeared, they probably would never have been told what had happened to Colby.

**Yeah, I don't wanna hurt, there's so much in this world to make me bleed...**

**Stay with me, you're all I see.**

_Jo waited outside Colby's house, already feeling nervous. She knew of her feelings for Colby – and according to Charlotte, he shared them, but she couldn't believe that. The nerves were not helped by the dull pain in her stomach; she believed that she had the flu, having spent most of the morning vomiting up what little food she had eaten. She knew that she probably should be at home, but she hated it there at the moment... Charlotte was out of town, her mother was… well, her mother would be useless in any situation. She needed someone that would be able to make her laugh and Colby; well he needed to get away from his mother too. She wasn't insane (yet) like her mother was, but she was still grieving the death of her husband a year after that dreadful day, and she had been ignoring Colby, acting as though she was the only one that had lost someone. _

_She jumped when someone touched her shoulder. "Fuck you Colby Granger, you should know not to sneak up on me." She smiled, greeting him with a hug and ignoring the tug in her abdomen. She'd tell him about it later, when they were out of the driveway that brought back so many memories for him. _

"_I didn't sneak up on you. You just…" _

"_Didn't notice?" Jo finished for him. "You're becoming more and more like Charlotte everyday Colb'" _

"_Really? I'll take that as a compliment then." Colby replied as they left the driveway and turned down a street. They continued joking and talking until they passed Charlotte and Jo's house. "Where is Charlotte anyway?" _

"_Some boring geeky thing she does, a competition award probably. Honest to God, that girl doesn't know how to let go and relax. It's always 'Oh, sorry Jo, I have to revise' or 'yeah, I'm going out for another run Jo' or, you know 'shut the fuck up Jo, I'm trying to do our homework'." Colby rolled his eyes at her antics. Charlotte and Jo were extremely close, but even the closest of people will argue at times, and he guessed that they had one right before Charlotte had left. "I'm not joking. It can be quite annoying at times." They reached the end of the street and were greeted by a small marina. Thankfully, the marina also served as a beach, and it wasn't long before Jo and Colby were lying next to each other in the sand, watching either the stars or the sea. _

_An hour or so passed of them talking about nothing really important. Jo noticed that the pain in her stomach was growing but she didn't want to go home, and she could tell by Colby's eagerness to talk (he was usually the quiet one out of the three, but tonight he was almost beating her) that he didn't want to go home either. _

_That didn't sound messed up at all, she thought to herself sarcastically. _

_While laughing at some joke Colby had made, the pain intensified and she gasped, curling in on herself. Colby leapt up almost immediately, already considering dialling 911. His mind was running over what could be wrong with her, but he was no doctor and seeing his friend in pain like this terrified him. "Jo? What's wrong? Do you need an ambulance?" He was speaking so fast that he didn't think that she would be able to understand him._

_Jo nodded before saying. "Stomach, ambulance." It was all she could say before her eyes fell._

Colby truly hated that memory. The fear he had felt when she had fell unconscious was truly indescribable. He thought he'd lost her. It was a week after that incident when he asked her out. It had turned out to be appendicitis, and he'd given her a lecture on not going to see a doctor when she had started vomiting. She'd received the same lecture of both Charlotte and his mother, the later finally seeming to care about someone other than herself. After giving her the lecture he had gathered up the courage to ask her out on an actual date – not just a night out like always. He had to admit, he had been shocked when she'd said yes.

God he missed her…

**Did I say that I need you? Did I say that I want you? Oh if I didn't I'm a fool, you see no one knows this more than me… **

**As I come clean, I wonder everyday as I look upon your face – everything you gave, and nothing you would take, nothing you would take, everything you gave.**

Charlotte remained in the chair next to Colby's bed for the rest of that night, listening to music with him and just hoping he'd wake up and tell her to turn it down like he used to.

"How's he doing?" Charlotte turned around, cursing herself for not realising that David had even walked near the room. Some soldier she was. She could almost hear Colby saying something like that to her.

"He's still being the same lazy arse he was yesterday." She sighed, smiling slightly in reassurance as her… whatever walked over to her. "No change." David could hear how terrified she was. It shocked him that he knew her so well, having only met her nearly three weeks ago, but she was so like Colby – and no one could deny that he knew Colby – it was easier to understand her because of this.

"He'll make it through this. He's strong," Because if Colby Granger couldn't survive an explosion then the sky was green. He had survived Lancer, he'd survived Declan the first time, and he's survived countless explosions. Something like this couldn't be the reason his friend died – it made no sense. And it wasn't fair at all. His friend had given everything for his country, for his family and his friends and he never asked for anything in return; he should die at an old age, not in something like this. It was too violent, too brutal to be able to comprehend. David was around violence on a daily basis, but nothing infuriated him more than when it was a friend in danger, a friend who had been hurt. He regretted every hurtful thing he had said to Colby, and all of his actions after the Chinese incident. And now he was trying to accept the fact that it might be too late; Don had told him what the doctor had said, about the small but very real chance of permanent brain damage.

He couldn't even begin to imagine Colby in a condition like that.

"I know, just wish he'd hurry up a bit." She replied, smiling as his hands rested on her shoulders and his fingers gently started to massage them. She'd had no idea how painful hospital chairs could be.

**Did I say that I need you? Did I say that I want you? Oh if I didn't I'm a fool you see, no one knows this more than me.**

Colby stood again, not knowing where he was. The memory of Jo was currently fresh in his mind and he was struggling to hide the pain. Whenever he thought of her, he missed her and missing her felt like someone was putting a knife through his heart. He looked around, catching her beautiful eyes once more. Jo smiled at him. Everything faded into darkness.

**Nothing you would take… Everything you gave…  
Hold me till I die, meet you on the other side.**

A/N: Kind of a cliff-hanger?  
Also, the flashback was to when Jo and Colby were 16  
Hope you liked it!

Song: Just Breathe, Pearl Jam.  
Disclaimer: I don't own numb3rs or the song that was used! I only own Jo, Charlotte and Taylor! 


	17. Waking up

**A/N: I can't even begin to say how sorry I am for leaving it so long since an update. I've been sick a lot over the past year, as well as hurting my hand and doing something to the muscles in it which basically meant that I couldn't type (which messed up my music GCSE and pretty much my life but oh well.) It's mostly better now, and I'm not planning on having anymore surgery, so who knows, I may be able to update regularly after this Thursday (maths resit). Thank you to everyone who has read this story. Sorry it's a bit on the short side, but if I wrote more you'd have to wait longer and I wanted to update as soon as possible.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

Charlotte looked up from her place next to Colby's bed, her grip tightening on David's hand. She was sure that she had seen her friend move out of the corner of her eye.

"Charlotte?" David questioned, looking at her with a confused expression on his face.

"Did you see that?" Charlotte asked, receiving only a confused look from David. "He moved. I'm sure of it." The former-soldier pulled her hand out of David's as she stood up, moving closer to the bed.

"Charlotte, the doctor said it was…"

"Shut up!" Frowning, David did so. It was then that he heard the slight groan coming from Colby. A wide grin broke out on his face.

"I'll get a doctor." He informed her, making his way out of the room in search of a doctor.

"Colby, can you hear me?" Charlotte questioned, leaning over Colby and holding his hand lightly. "If you can, squeeze my hand, okay?" She waited for a moment, praying to every God that there was that he could hear her and the explosion hadn't caused any serious damage. Eventually, Colby's grip on her hand tightened. It was a small, barely recognisable movement but it was something. Charlotte sighed in relief, feeling the tension from the previous days rush out of her body. She knew that the battle wasn't over yet; there was still the small risk of brain damage, but she was hopeful, and he was responding to her at least which she took to be a good sign.

"Okay, are you in pain at all 'hun?" She asked softly, knowing that once the doctor and David arrived, Colby would deny being in pain. Colby nodded slowly. "Where?"

"Head." Colby rasped as he opened his eyes slowly. The light flooded his eyes, making him close them almost immediately. It felt as though all of his senses had been heightened. "Wha' h'ppened?" He slurred drowsily.

"You got caught up in an explosion. We'll talk about that later. David's gone to get a doctor, they should be here soon and we can get you checked out, then I'll explain everything." Colby nodded again as he tried to open his eyes again. This attempt was much more successful from the latter, and he was able to focus on the blonde. He saw that she had a faint bruise on the left side of her face, as well as several half-healed contusions that looked like they had been made by broken glass.

"You 'kay?" He asked, wincing at his sore throat.

Charlotte, noticing his discomfort, grabbed a glass of water and helped him to drink it while reassuring him that she was okay and that they both knew she'd had worse than this in the past. She was just putting the glass down when the doctor entered with David following swiftly behind him.

"Ah, Mr Granger, glad to see you're awake." The overly-cheerful doctor smiled at him. Charlotte glanced at David and raised an eyebrow questioningly. David just shook his head. "Now, any pain at all." Colby shook his head while pulling himself up into a sitting position, trying to ignore the nauseous feeling it brought to him.

"He's lying. His head hurts." Charlotte said, taking her seat again. "What?" She said in reply to Colby's glare. "It's true." She shrugged.

"It's not that bad." Colby muttered.

"How long has he been awake?" Asked the overly-cheerful doctor.

"Just over five minutes."

"Okay, I'll go get the nurse to get you some medication Mr Granger." The doctor smiled as he wrote some notes down on Colby's chart before leaving the room. Charlotte watched him go and shook her head.

"It's close to one in the morning. How the hell is he that cheerful? No one likes their job that much." She exclaimed.

"Be happy you didn't have to go get him…" David muttered, taking his seat next to Charlotte. The blonde smirked before looking at Colby.

"So, what do you remember?" She asked softly.

"Not much. I remember going to the warehouse, but after that nothing. Did you get him?" Charlotte bit her lip before shaking her head.

"We think he died in the explosion, but his body hasn't been recovered yet."

"How long have I been out?"

"Just over a week." David answered this time. "You had us all worried."

"We should probably tell everyone you're awake." Charlotte began, sensing that the two needed some time to talk. "I'll go find Tay, and she'll call the team for us." She smiled, squeezing Colby's hand once more before leaving the room. A few moments of silence passed between David and Colby before Colby finally spoke up, not wanting the silence to remain awkward.

"How are you two here this late anyway?"

"I think the nurses are too scared to kick us out man. Taylor and Charlotte…" David just shook his head and shared a knowing grin with his friend.

"They have a habit of doing that." Colby grinned. A small pause followed before Colby continued more seriously, "Look, I don't know what exactly has gone on between you and Charlotte, and I'll _never _want to know the details," He made eye contact with David before continuing, "But don't fuck it up okay? She's really special and she might seem scary and whatever, but she isn't." David nodded.

"I won't. She is pretty amazing."

"Good, cos' I didn't really wanna kill ya." The two shared a smile before continuing in conversation.

* * *

Charlotte made her way into Taylor's room, glaring at the nurse who was about to try and get her to leave. The nurse, recognizing her as the intimidating ex-soldier her colleagues had warned her about, left the room swiftly. Charlotte smiled to herself at her success before making her way over to the bed to wake her friend up. "Tay? Hey, Taylor, wake up soldier." Taylor's eyes slowly opened as the blonde started to shake her solider.

"Someone had best be bloody dying out in the corridor. It's early." She droned, pulling herself up carefully aware of her stitches.

"Better. Colby's awake and talking, so I don't think there's any permanent damage." A wide grin spread on Taylor's face.

"Seriously?" Charlotte nodded. "Well, thank fuck for that. Team know?"

"Only David, he was with me when sleeping beauty opened his eyes." Taylor raised an eyebrow at the wording. "It's too early to think of comprehensible sentences."

"Whatever you say, go get me a wheelchair and I'll call Eppes." Her friend nodded and left the room in search of a wheelchair while Taylor dialed Don's number.

"Eppes." A very tired voice answered a few moments later.

"Hey Boss, guess who's awake?" Taylor smiled. She knew that this could've waited until morning, but she felt that the entire team should be here as soon as possible.

"You rang me at one in the morning to tell me you're awake?"

Gee, Don was slow in the morning, Taylor thought as she rolled her eyes. "No, Granger is though. Figured you'd like to know after you demanded that I, Charlotte and David update you if there were any changes. There doesn't appear to be any brain damage either. The guy is practically bullet-proof."

She could hear Don's sigh of relief through the phone. "We'll come by in a few hours, when normal people are conscious. I'll see you then Taylor." Don hung up without waiting for a reply. Charlotte then walked in with a wheelchair.

"Don's grumpy when he's woken up." Taylor said, moving from the bed to the chair as quickly as possible. "Said they'll be by in the morning, so I'm assuming he's either with Liz and will tell Megan in the morning, or just tell them both." Her eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. "I don't even understand that sentence."

"I don't think anyone understands half of what you say love." Charlotte smiled at her friend, taking the chair and wheeling her out of the room discreetly. Most of the nurses wouldn't say anything to them, having accepted that Charlotte would do what she liked anyway, but regardless to popular belief, the blonde was aware of the rules and, if circumstances were different, she would have been the one fighting with Taylor over following the nurses orders. However, she did know that Taylor had been just as worried as she had been over the previous week, and she would need to see for herself that Colby was pretty much okay.

"I don't like you." The younger woman muttered, a small smile on her face. She hadn't felt this at ease all week - not even the morphine and painkillers had been able to numb her worry and nerves regarding Colby. He was one of her best friends and she needed him in her life. The thought of losing him made her feel as though her blood had turned to ice. It wasn't just the thought of him dying that made her feel like this, it was the thought of him being permanently damaged by this, to the point where he wasn't Colby any more.

**A/N: It's a weird point to finish it off, but it'll do. In the next chapter there will be more Colby and the team though:)**


End file.
